Page 92 - Time Special Edition Alternative Medicine (January 2020)
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ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE FOOD CURES
neighbors—allies, actually—performing functions otics, shares its name with the class of “good” bac-
essential to good health. “Tens of thousands of spe- teria it uses, and its potential as a wellness tool is
cies of microorganisms live with us,” says Lita Proc- virtually limitless.
tor, who coordinated the Human Microbiome Proj- Our relationship with beneficial microbes goes
ect, launched in 2007 by the National Institutes of back a long way, to our very first moments in the
Health (NIH). “They belong there, they’re good for world. The womb is a sterile environment; deliv-
us, and they support health and well-being.” ery is a newborn’s first confrontation with germs.
Consider the microbes that reside in the gut, by Over the course of a pregnancy, the makeup of the
far the human body’s largest community of tiny ten- bacteria in the vagina—the vaginal microbiome—
ants. Most are bacteria with odd-sounding names changes, and by the end of nine months it’s a well-
like Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, but they perform represented community of bugs that an infant is
the vital function of producing enzymes that break likely to encounter in the outside world. This initial
down plant fibers. Without them, we wouldn’t be inoculation primes a baby’s immune system to iden-
able to absorb the nutrients and vitamins found in tify potentially troublesome pathogens and mount
leafy vegetables and legumes. Other bacteria fer- appropriate immune responses against them.
ment digested food in our intestines, helping trans- The journey through the birth canal is an im-
form what we eat into the energy our cells need. portant one. Intriguing preliminary evidence sug-
The goal of so much of the medicine we take and gests that the makeup of the vaginal microbiome
therapies we undergo is to rid the body of microbes. can influence a child’s later health, possibly caus-
But now that we are beginning to realize the ben- ing, for instance, the development of asthma and
efits of these organisms, scientists are developing allergies. Similarly, scientists hope to tease out
treatments that do just the opposite: seed the body microbial “profiles” that characterize babies who
with them. This blossoming field, known as probi- might be susceptible to certain illnesses; some re-
Babies arrive in the world inoculated with microbes that prime the immune system.
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