Of Grass & Weeds …
10%Human + 90%Biofilm = 100% Ecosystem
Your Oral/Gut Biofilm (= Flora or Microbiome)
Did you know that there are more bacteria in you and on you than there are of your own human cells? tThe ration is 10% Human cells in the body and 90% microbes (bacteria, fungus and other critters)
Biofilms / Microbiomes are clusters of mainly bacteria as well as a few other organisms, which are found MAINLY in our mouths and our gut, then to a lesser number on skin, in the nose and urogenitals.
In recent years scientist have discovered that the gut microbiome, contains tens of trillions of microorganisms, including up to 1,000 different species of bacteria with over 3 million genes — that’s 150 times more genes than human genes!
With 80% of our immune system in our gut, we must support and nurture our Biofilm, because all of those good bacteria directly influence our immune system and determine if it will be healthy or if it will go rogue as with autoimmunity/infections/imbalances.
How Does Your Gut Biofilm Form?
So how do all of these beneficial and many bad bacteria get inside of us to form our microbiomes? THROUGH THE MOUTH!
The truth is that your microbiome starts developing at conception. We used to think the womb was sterile, but recent studies show that women who had a bladder infection during their first or second trimester had “microbial fingerprints” of this infection in their placenta. This means that if a mother gets antibiotics while she’s pregnant it can have a permanent impact on the gut microbiome of the fetus. In a sense, you inherit your mom’s microbiome, and if hers is not healthy yours will not be either.
Another question I ask my guests is how they were born: vaginally or by C-section. If you’re born vaginally, you swallow a big dose of your mom’s Biofilm as you pass through the birth canal. If you’re born via C-section, you miss being inoculated with those beneficial bacteria, and your first exposure tends to be to other types of bacteria that may actually contain bad bacteria, such as from the skin or mouth (from being held and kissed by adults).
Latest research shows that babies born by C-section are more likely to have allergies and altered gut microbiomes. A recent study that involved ‘swabbing’ the newborn with mom’s microbiome from the birth canal immediately after birth shows that the babies microbiomes are as diverse and healthy as those who were born vaginally.
Breast feeding is another wonderful way to help insure a healthy mouth and gut Biofilm because breast milk contains naturally-occurring probiotics and anti-inflammatory compounds to help the good bacteria to flourish. Also the bacteria on the mother’s skin are taken in when baby is suckling on the breast.
Missing out on friendly bacteria from the birth canal and breastmilk support puts you at greater risk for middle-ear infections (ORAL infections) and other recurring childhood infections.
Also, there is an association between dairy allergies and infections in childhood. With every infection comes another round of antibiotics that wipe out even more of the good bacteria which can lead to yeast or Candida overgrowth.
All of these factors that start before you are even born can be linked to autoimmunity, even if you don’t develop a full-blown autoimmune disease for decades. Let’s talk about why that is.
How Does Your Gut Biofilm Influence Your Immunity?
I like to explain body Biofilms as “Lawns”. In a healthy lawn, many types of grass and palnts live together in a symbiotic ecosystem but if the balance gets disrupted, the good or beneficial plants begin to die and the bad ones “The Weeds” start to take over.
This also happens in your Mouth and Gut. The good gets killed or greatly reduced, and the bad bacteria and yeast (Candida) that used to be kept in check can take over and grow out of control.
Additionally, if you’re eating a diet high in refined carbohydrate, sugar and alcohol then you will feed the bad bacteria and yeast, letting them grow even more out of control and this is called dysbiosis. Certain medications such as antibiotics, acid blocking drugs, birth control pills and steroid can also cause further imbalance in your Ecosystem.
As the imbalance gets more out of control it can cause a suppression in your immune system – remember 80% of your immune system is in the gut – which then can lead to being susceptible to other infections which may require more antibiotics and the cycle just keeps going.
Over time, having this dysbiosis in your gut microbiome will eventually lead a leaky gut. If your gut is leaky, food particles, toxins and infections can get through your intestinal lining and into your bloodstream where your immune system detects them as foreign invaders and goes on high alert, attacking them and creating inflammation.
The main way this inflammation occurs is that many of these food particles (especially gluten and casein - a protein found in dairy), toxins and bacterial proteins look very similar to our own body’s cell proteins and our immune system gets confused and accidentally attacks our tissues which leads to autoimmunity. This process is called molecular mimicry.
