We Are Only 10% Human!

In the near future, instead of antibiotics your doctor might present you with a vial of a specific strain of good bacteria which you are lacking that directly targets your particular health concern. In the meantime, generally repopulating a healthy environment of benevolent bugs in your system is an important start.

New research has genetically mapped the trillions of cells in the human body. It turns out that 90% of the cells in the human body are microbial (bugs), leaving only 10% of us that consists of human cells! Good thing our human cells are so much bigger than bug cells, or we would all look more like bugs!

With this in mind, instead of killing the bad bugs – which is the logic behind antibiotics – future medicine will focus on re-populating the beneficial bacteria, or good bugs, that have diminished in your body. After all, doesn’t it make sense to treat the 90% of us – the bugs – so that they clearly and effortlessly maintain the health of the remaining 10%?

What is even more interesting is that these microbes replicate extremely quickly. Some can reproduce up to 1 million times in eight hours. So in a typical work day, they have a million babies, giving them the leverage to genetically morph and adapt to our ever changing world.

But as prolific as they are, researchers are finding that they do not proliferate well in the presence of toxins, chemicals and processed and preserved foods. If we continue to sterilize everything and eat foods that our good bugs can’t digest, the 90% of us will slowly die. And as the microbial diversity within us slowing wanes, so will our health.

The trick is: how do we keep the trillions of beneficial microbes in the body alive and flourishing? Click here to read the original article and learn more.