SO, YOU THOUGHT THAT YOU LEFT BIOLOGY CLASS FAR BEHIND YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL, RIGHT?

Finding out a little more about how your body works is not a bad thing. There is no test at the end of this article, and no animals will be harmed during or after its writing. We will only dissect the relationship between the microbes within and on you.

You are made of mostly microbes. Incredibly, there are trillions of microbial cells in and on our bodies. Once you realize that, it seems logical that they are there for a reason and further, that they would have an impact on your wellbeing.

You may or may not have heard the term “microbiome.” In the world of probiotic study, the word, first used in 2001, can now be found everywhere. The microbiome is defined as being by all of the bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other organisms that inhabit the human body.

Your body has diverse microbiomes or microbial communities. Each biome contributes to the overall health of your body. The completion of the U.S. National Institutes of Health Human Microbiome Project and the MetaHiT project of European Commission heightened insight into microbiomes. Both propelled the discussion of what is a healthy microbiome.

An explosion of research and studies have followed, the majority of them have been centered on the gut, skin, vaginal, and pyscho or brain microbiomes. We have learned that our bodies’ bacteria have essential roles in such areas as body weight, metabolism, chronic skin problems, feminine vaginal health, modulation of your mood, and especially lately, your immune system.

It turns out that our resident bacteria create metabolites 1 and proteins that interact, impact and communicate with our biology. Researchers have shown that that communication goes both ways between the gut and the brain Imbalance (which can be too much or too little bacteria) in the natural flora in any of the biomes can drive disease.

In either case, a loss of normal bacterial function and interruption of communication pathways between our body systems occurs, and problems can take place. The natural auto-immune response triggered by imbalance in a biome is inflammation. Inflammation is our body’s way of trying to return to its natural balance.

Everybody’s microbiomes are distinct -like fingerprints. Imbalance in the biomes reveals disfunctions in many of the same ways: in the gut as a “leaky gut,” irritable bowel syndrome, G .I. distress & failed intestinal barrier, on the skin as “leaky skin” – acne, eczema or rosacea or in the brain through depression/moodiness, anxiety and insomnia.

Understanding more about our microbiomes provides a little background into why BeBe & Bella® decided to launch a probiotic or friendly bacteria skincare & personal care line with oral and topical probiotics.

More on how to protect your good bacteria later.

Class is out- Linda Krebs/ co-founder BeBe & Bella®– You can write to me at l.krebs@bebeandbella.com

1. Vitamins, carbohydrates, lipids, and steroids are a few examples of primary metabolites