From the world outside to the world inside

Bacteria are known to cause many diseases. But recent research on the bacteria of the gut shows that some bacteria are important for health.

In fact, one could diagnose insulin resistance, obesity, faulty lipid metabolism, inflammations and many other metabolic disorders by the diversity of microbiota of your intestines. 

So soon doctors may start prescribing bacteria for your illnesses. And besides probiotic dahi, the supermarket near you will be selling bacterial products to make you healthy. You can find a good review on the topic published in the recent edition of Nature journal.

But wait before you run to the supermarket to buy these good bacteria. The diversity of microflora in your gut may be reduced because of hormones and other factors. For example, increased testosterone in males after puberty gives them a different set of microbiota compared to females. Bacterial species vary depending on the food that you eat and perhaps even your psychosocial and cultural life may affect it through epigenetic means. So perhaps the disorder is causing selective removal of some species of bacteria from the gut rather than the disorder being caused by lack of certain bacterial species. It is only further research that can provide results that can be translated to treatments.

Nature 500, 541–546 (29 August 2013) doi:10.1038/nature12506