an equilibrium. Some researchers like to equate the system to a rain forest,
because you need a wide variety to allow the ecosystem to flourish. The good
kind, unsurprisingly, make your system thrive. The bad guys can cause trouble
when there’s too many of them, and can become toxic to the body.
A thriving rain forest is diverse, and the same can be said about the
microbiome. The more types of beneficial bugs you house, the healthier you’re
likely to be. There’s a lot to be discovered about these microbes, but we do know
that the gut holds the richest diversity of them in the body—more than a
thousand species. Many experts believe that your gut health may have as much
effect on your overall health as your genes. For example, it seems that bacteria in
your gut influence a number of things, such as:
Inflammation: Some of your bugs take nutrients from your diet and do good
with them. When you eat right, these bugs help your body make vitamins and
turn food into other nutrients, like short-chain fatty acids—which are some of
the most powerful anti-inflammatory agents in the body. But when you eat
unhealthy fats and starches, your bad bacteria are more likely to secrete a
substance called endotoxin that sparks your immune system to go on the
defensive, triggering inflammation.
Appetite: Scientists have observed that slim people have a diverse population of
bacteria, while overweight people have less variety. One form of bacteria seems
to have an influence on levels of the hormone ghrelin, which controls your
appetite. Your food choices can have an impact on these bugs; for example,
nondigestible compounds in apples promote the growth of friendly gut bacteria,
which stabilize metabolism and help you feel full.