Candida and The Human Microbiome 259Let me introduce you to the human microbiome. You will recognize
the term biome from the discovery of our own (human) genome. This is
the collection of DNA that is supposed to code for “human-ness”, though
cracks are already beginning to appear in that story.
What we already know is that nobody, and I mean nobody, has
the human genome. In fact there is no such thing as the “real” human
genome. We are all different and vary by tiny little alterations in the code
called single-nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs (we pronounce “snips”).
These small variations are not enough to grow three legs or two heads. But
they can easily mean that an individual may not be able to metabolize a
particular food safely.
This is a whole new take on what we once called “food allergies”.
We clinicians were right: there is a food reaction. But the model of how this
occurs has shifted somewhat towards metabolic intolerance interpretation,
rather than an immune reaction.
OK so far?
Well, now it really shifts gear! In just the last decade we have begun
to realize that our gut flora actually contributes more to our genome than
we do. About a hundred times more, in fact. This is new and a total shock.
Collectively, the organisms in our gut add up to several trillion
microbes. There are probably over 1,000 species living in and travelling on
“Planet Human”. They too have genetic coding, albeit simple.
This is called the (human) microbiome and it has just as much
impact on our food tolerances as our own genes and SNPs. Not surprisingly,
really, since they are thousands of times more microbial genes in the pool
than human genes.
It has been a total shock and yet wonderfully revealing and liberating.
At last I begin to understand all those effects that were so clear to me, in a
clinical setting, almost forty years ago.
Why Is This Important?
Fascinating? Yes. Incredible, even. But why is it so important?
Because the microbiome regulates our immune system in ways we could
not have guessed a quarter century ago.
We are born sterile, of course. The womb has no microbes. But
during the process of birth Momma infects us with her shit (call it “fecal
organisms” if you can’t handle that vulgar word). It’s the most wonderful