Week after week scientific trials reveal more about how crucial our microbiome is. Just this week we hear that gut microbes interact with a number of medicines (antidepressants, pain relief) to give different side effects for different people and that our socio-economic status has an impact on our gut microbes.
In July this year you might have seen this in-depth article in the Observer by the journalist @rebeccaSeal about how significant the microbiome is for our health. It's worth a read if you're looking for a wide-ranging summary. It explores what we know about microbes and the microbiome. Which is basically that there is still a lot more to learn - a lot we don't yet know.
What we do know is that humans have evolved with microbes since the beginning of our history and that the microbiome is a very complex superorgan in the body, that varies from person to person. We also know that dirt is good for microbial diversity and that the increasing urbanisation of our world as well as antibiotic sprays and cleaners have impacted the health of our microbiome and, consequently, have impacted our health.
But there is still a lot about microbes that remains a mystery. Exactly how do they work? How are they different in each person? What combinations of microbes are the best, and how do they impact our physical and mental health? It is a fascinating and expanding new area of research. The article highlights the incredible research Dr Tim Spector is doing with ZOE and PREDICT1 to use data-driven research to understand personalised responses to food based on greater knowledge of the microbiome. We welcome this research and the health benefits that it offers to many people.
However, we do have one thought that we want to throw into this space, which is around the human desire to try and understand and even to control nature. We strongly believe in nature, in going back to nature and, crucially, in trusting nature. We humans are living in a time when we need to find solutions to the environmental and health problems that we face. We believe that a big part of this solution includes going back to nature, to the building blocks of life, and trusting that nature, and microbes specifically, naturally strive for life to thrive.
It is estimated there are well over a billion species of microbes, and they collaborate in complex and creative ways that human logical minds might never be able to dissect or comprehend. Microbes are constantly evolving to survive, and they display huge intelligence and adaptability - as we see with so-called superbugs that escape all our attempts to kill pathogens with antibiotics.
We live in a polluted, toxic, and damaged environment, which is evidenced by the changes in climate we are already witnessing. We are inspired because we see microbes as key to help us clean up some of the mess we've created. Microbes are masters at closing the circle of life, they degrade organic matter and then use the elements to create new life sustainably, and they have been doing that for billions of years.
At Microbz we harvest our mother culture from soil and we know (because we test it) that it has 15 main strains of beneficial bacteria working in symbiosis. We then ferment this rich mixture with traditional herbs and minerals that have been used for centuries to support a healthy body. The microbes make these anti-inflammatory and immune boosting herbs bio-available for the body to absorb through a healthy gut. We trust the microbes that we harvest from nature, and we trust that each body has its own intelligence: that giving a microbiome beneficial microbes will enable it to work for optimum health in the best possible way, naturally.
We might never understand exactly how mother nature works, but isn't that a wonderful part of the mystery?
