Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ

by Giulia Enders

Molecules of the two kinds of lactic acid are mirror images of each other. Feeding

the human digestive system with levorotatory lactic acid molecules is like giving a left-handed pair of scissors to a right-ha...

“Contains mainly dextrorotatory [or right-turning] lactic acid.”

The substances they release during that process create the aftertaste so appreciated by the wine lover. And each connoisseur will experience a slightly different

taste depending on the population of bacteria on their tongue.

The bacteria population of our mouth is only about one-ten-thousandth of the number that live in the gut, yet we still taste the results of their work.

In the industrialized world, about 90 percent of our nutrition comes from what we eat, and we are fed about 10 percent by our bacteria.

THE GUT FLORA might include too many bacteria that program a person for chubbiness. These chubbiness-inducing bacteria are efficient at breaking down carbohydrates.

Bacteria are able to make various fatty acids out of indigestible carbohydrates. Vegetable-loving bacteria tend to manufacture fatty acids for the gut and the liver, and others produce fatty acids that feed the rest of the body.

That is because plant carbohydrates are more likely to attract

the attention of bacteria that provide fatty acids to local customers like the liver.

less overall diversity in their gut flora and that certain groups of bacteria prevail—primarily those that metabolize carbohydrates.

suggests that gut bacteria can affect their host’s appetite.

Not our brains but our guts are the home of gangs of bacteria that crave hamburgers after three days on a diet.

brain. The only things that can make it through this tangled mess are pure sugar, minerals, and anything that is as small and fat-soluble as a neural transmitter.

Examples include tyrosine and tryptophan. These two amino acids are converted into dopamine and serotonin

The feeling of satiety generally comes from two sides: from the

brain and from the rest of the body.

The nutrition we receive from our bacteria is not only important for fighting the flab, it also affects the levels of fats such as cholesterol in our blood.

Bacteria help to feed us, make some foods more digestible,

and produce their own substances.

Rule number one: Always use plastic chopping boards because they are easier to clean properly and provide fewer grooves and ridges for bacteria to hide in.

Rule number two: Always wash anything that comes into contact with raw meat or eggshells thoroughly with hot water—chopping

boards, hands, cutlery, kitchen sponges, and coland...

Rule number three: Whenever possible make sure that meat and egg-based foods are cooked through.

Rule number four: Think beyond the kitchen.

Salmonella bacteria are part of the normal gut flora of reptiles.

Lol Charlie

In summary, it can be said that H. pylori can manipulate our protective barriers, irritate and destroy our cells, and manufacture toxins and damage our entire body by doing so.

Toxoplasmata—Fearless Cat Riders

Yeeesh the first three sentences

The microscopic creatures in the cat’s feces can wait up to five years to infect another definitive host.

Never owning a cat

The probability, in percent, of your having toxoplasmata yourself is about as high as your age in years.

Excuse me

The parasites can reach an unborn child via the mother’s bloodstream.

Omg :/

How can pain have become the hot sauce in the otherwise bland soup of her everyday life?

Not my favourite hyperbole

if you are a parasite with a plan, it makes sense to settle here. From here, it might be possible to promote self-destructive tendencies and weaken the mechanisms that suppress these courses of action.

One American clothing manufacturer even uses sex pheromones to attract potential customers.

199% Abercrombie

Toxoplasmata possess genes that influence the production of dopamine in the brain.

If you look at just the right moment, you can even see them giving us a wave out of the anus.

Omg ew

They lay their eggs in the many little creases around the anus and wriggle around until it starts to itch.

Terrifying

Pro bios means “for life.” Probiotics are edible living bacteria that can make us healthier. Pre bios means “before life.” Prebiotics are foodstuffs that pass undigested into the large intestine, where they feed our beneficial bacteria so that they thrive better than bad bacteria.

“the erotically unavoidable.”

The tradition of the weekly bath did not really take hold until the 1950s.

For as long as two years after taking antibiotics, bad bacteria are still present in the gut, telling their great-great-great- . . . -grandchildren stories about the war.

These are the ones that resisted the antibiotics and survived. And with good reason. Bacteria develop resistance strategies.

upon a bacterium that seems to help. The packaging should always include the name of the bacteria the product contains. Try it for about four weeks and if you see no improvement, give

a

different bacteri...

You should try them for about four weeks and make sure they are still within the best-before date (otherwise sufficient bacteria may not have survived to have any effect on the huge ecosystem of the gut).

Before buying probiotic products, you should find out whether they are intended by the manufacturer for the complaint you are hoping to treat.

The best-researched probiotics to date are lactic-acid bacteria (Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria) and Saccharomyces boulardii, which is a yeast.

world. It can then protect the gut from harmful opportunists.