Top 5 Reasons the Microbiome is so Important So, you may have heard this before, but what exactly are we talking about when we hear people mention “the microbiome?” The microbiome, which is also referred to commonly just as the “gut,” consists of trillions of microorganisms that live throughout our small and large intestines. In fact, there are more of these microorganisms than there are of our own cells, so technically speaking, we are more bacteria than human! These microorganisms, or microbes, consist of different bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. Now normally, all these different populations of microbes, or bugs, live peacefully inside of the microbiome. (Insert clip of something harmonious, like the scene from bug’s life where they’re all lined up making contributions to the harvest) Everyone walking the planet has a microbiome that is unique to them. A lot of it is determined at birth, and then a good portion of it is altered and changed depending on a person's diet and lifestyle. We all have good bugs, and we all have bad bugs that are either symbiotic or pathogenic. Usually, the good bugs and the bad bugs coexist without issues in a delicate balance. However, when that balance is destroyed, either due to illness, poor diet, or overuse of antibiotics, stress, poor sleep, the gut is now in dysbiosis, and we are more susceptible to disease. So, let’s get in to the top 5 reasons that the microbiome aka the gut is so important to our health Helps control our immune system. Without these microbes that we start getting the moment we are born; adaptive immunity would not exist. When we’re born and we pass through the birthing canal, we’re immediately exposed to beneficial bacteria that help develop our immune system. We continue to receive beneficial bacteria when we’re fed breastmilk. That’s why the health and diet of pregnant and breast-feeding mother’s is so important because that determines the set point of that child’s gut health and immune system. Now obviously a lot is determined as well by the environment as we grow up, but this all sets the foundation. That’s why it’s important to be exposed to number of different microbes at a young age, that way we can developed a quicker and more effective response to disease causing organisms. So, in summary a large part of our immune system lives in our gut and that’s why we need to treat it properly. Helps control brain health. Researchers have demonstrated links between the gut microbiome and psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety. This is because gut bacteria produce large amounts of neurotransmitters like serotonin and interact in the neural pathways that are involved in anxiety and depression and help form the gut-brain axis.