Recent advances in the human microbiome - review

ABSTRACT

The human gut microbiome can be considered a 'new' internal organ, with a metabolic capacity exceeding that of the liver, or our primary connection to the environment, linking us to the world's ecology. The density of microbes within the colon is one of the highest in nature, and it is estimated that the number of microbes within our gut match or exceed that of our host human cell count, whilst their genetic machinery outnumbers our own by 1001. This helps explain the remarkable new findings that show our microbiome not only affects the health and function of our intestines, but also has a strong influence on general body health through its close interaction with the gut immune system and through its production of bioactive metabolites that are absorbed and affect distant organ function. A state of dysbiosis can occur when its food source, fiberrich foods, becomes depleted and when oral antibiotics are used. Dysbiosis has been linked to an increasing list of human diseases, and in particular to 'westernized' diseases, such as colon cancer, allergy, diabetes, obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, and atherosclerosis, which pose the major threat to healthcare in the USA today