Intestinal Bacterial Flora
Any therapy must also consider the intestinal bacterial flora as a true organ.
Surprisingly, we host more bacteria than we have cells. Our digestive tract is home to 100,000 billion bacteria, not to mention viruses and bacteriophages. That’s 2 kilos of bacteria! As a reminder, we have 10,000 billion cells in our entire body. This raises a philosophical question: can we reasonably ask ourselves who is the “Alien” of the other ?
This flora is made up of more than 1,000 different species of bacteria. The flora in the small intestine is not the same as the one in the large intestine, the colon.
The flora of the small intestine secretes vitamins and digests sugars and fats. Imagine a 6-meter long pipe folded and coiled with a different bacterial species every centimeter. Each of these species works for you.
The flora of the colon is different and plays another role: it helps our body reabsorb food that has not been captured by the small intestine. To this end, it ferments food using specialized bacteria.
The powers of your intestine are not limited to digestion.
An incredible figure can help you appreciate the magnitude of its role: 85% of serotonin (the hormone of pleasure) is secreted by the flora in your intestine. This serotonin is intended for the brain. The flora therefore secretes your first anti-depressant treatment and it is likely that depression will be treated in a few years by special fibers for specific germs.
Where do we get our intestinal bacterial flora from ?
We inherit our intestinal flora at birth. The mother passes it on to the baby when she gives birth. When the baby passes through the lower strait of the mother’s pelvis, it comes into contact with the maternal flora that is beginning to colonize her intestine. This is a precious inheritance, which comes straight from our forebears and their forebears.
Children born by caesarean section leave the clinic with the flora of the caregivers who handled them. Back home and with repeated contacts with his parents, siblings and the germs of the home, they will recover the family flora. If this doesn’t happen, they may eventually develop digestive disorders that can become very debilitating in some cases, such as with Crohn’s disease (chronic inflammatory bowel disease).
Bacteria were present on Earth before us. We have a “symbiosis” contract with them: we host them, we protect them, we feed them. In exchange, they make vitamins and hormones, help us digest, help us protect against aggressive killer germs.
The intestinal bacterial flora is one of the family’s most precious possessions and I often tell my patients that they must respect it.
What happens if the flora is not well fed ?
Poor eating habits mean that your flora is not being fed properly. This is not without consequence, because it may aggravate food deviances.
A diet that is too rich in saturated fats changes the bacterial ecology. It disrupts the symbiotic relationship of our body with the microorganisms that inhabit our digestive tracts. Germs will increase inflammation (a set of reactions generated by the body in response to an attack) that will then develop and be carried to the brain. Does the inflammation remind you of anything? It is the trigger of type 2 diabetes.
An exciting experience :
During a study involving diabetic mice, the researchers transplanted the intestinal bacterial flora from diabetic mice to non-diabetic mice. After a few days, non-diabetic mice also became diabetic without changing their diet. There is therefore a “diabetic” flora.
The same experiment was performed with obese mice and gave the same results.
Many teams are exploring the possibility of fecal transplants to help obese patients lose weight. This is a promising avenue for both obesity and type 2 diabetes. However, all treatments will eventually be ineffective if the patients do not change their eating habits and return to their bad habits.
For all these reasons, any weight loss method must respect your intestinal bacterial flora, without which you could not survive.
Within the framework of the care I recommend, I make sure to respect these 2 very important organs, the intestinal bacterial flora and of course the liver.