Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Your own personal B-team

…You are lugging around three pounds of bacterial cells, but they comprise 90% of the cells in your body—they are just tiny compared with the human cells.

…These little passengers digest your food and perform other useful functions for you—in fact, you could not live without them, according to a story by Rick Weiss in the Wash Post (June 5, 2006).

…Some of these bacteria manufacture vitamins not found in the diet, including several B’s.

…They break down the poisonous substances in plants so they don’t kill us.

…They grab harmful hydrogen out of the gut and convert it to methane (which can lead to embarrassing moments, but hey, blame the dog).

…They make a food colon cells need to survive.

…Doctors are even looking toward being able to analyze our bacterial load and tweak it.

…Downing an acidophilus pill will soon be considered so 5 minutes ago.

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