Page 90 - Time Special Edition Alternative Medicine (January 2020)

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Microbes

Turns out your body is host

to a whole world of organisms.
How to make probiotics work

BY ALICE PARK

Science haS lefT feW fronTierS uncharTed in

the human body. CT and PET scans allow us to peer
through flesh into bones and organs. Genetic tests help
us decipher the molecular instructions that guide cell
growth. We can even watch the brain at work with MRIs
that record neurons as they fire in the perfected cho-
reography of cognition. Yet one vast universe remains
largely unexplored, a world where interlopers outnum-
ber homegrown cells by a factor of 10, and the DNA of
which is composed of a whopping 8 million genes (hu-

mans, in comparison, have a paltry 23,000). It’s the mi-
crobial kingdom, an invisible ecosystem that can have
profound effects on our health, influencing everything
from our risk of cancer and obesity to immune disor-
ders, asthma, colds, flu and maybe even autism.
We tend to think of this unseen underworld as an
army of disease-carrying invaders—bacteria, viruses

and other pathogens that have us sniffling in bed or
moaning in the emergency room. The fact is, though,
evildoing microbes are the exception. The vast ma-
jority of bugs that live in, on and around us are good

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