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titleThe good bugs

subject date16-03-2021

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caption@P@ 1 50 the We tend to think of bacteria as bad things – they do make us sick after all but, in fact, your body is teeming with over 100 trillion microbes, some of which have very positive effects on your body. Investigating what’s known as the microbiome or microbiota is one of the biggest areas of health research right now – so here’s some news about the amazing benefits these bugs can bring and why it's important to take good care of them. They might help you HANDLE STRESS BETTER It’s well known that stress affects your tummy, but new findings say your gut also affects your state of mind. In US trials, women eating a probiotic-boosted yoghurt actually showed a lower level of anxiety when stressed out than other women. “We’ve found that probiotics can affect gene expression within the brain,” says Professor Javier Bravo from Chile’s Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso. “In trials on people with irritable bowel syndrome taking probiotics, they said their overall quality of life improved. Now I think it’s not only a consequence of changes in intestinal health but because the probiotic affects their mental health, too.” Your sex life might APPRECIATE THEM It’s not just hormones that change post menopause, the types of bacteria in the vagina do too – we carry less of the bacteria called lactobacillus, finds new US research. This bacteria shift is associated with the We all know healthy gut bacteria keep us well but Helen Foster has discovered seven more reasons to love those beneficial bugs goodhealth.PHOTOGRAPHY DAN SAELINGER/ TRUNKARCHIVE.COM/ SNAPPER MEDIA / GETTY IMAGES good BUGS gm0214bacp50 - 50 2013-12-06T16:41:06+11:00

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titleThe good bugs

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caption@P@ 1 51 vaginal dryness and atrophy that can make sex less comfortable as we age. “It’s possible that in the future, helping women maintain a lactobacillus-dominated microbiota as they enter menopause may prove to prevent the development of atrophic symptoms,” says study author Professor Rebecca Brotman. And this would in turn help to make sex more comfortable. Some bacteria could maKe YOU thin Obesity researchers have found that people who struggle with their weight have a different make-up of bacteria in their body from those who don’t. They possess higher numbers of bugs called firmicutes which increase the efficiency by which we extract energy from food, so if they eat more it can lead to weight gain. “Obese individuals also tend to have gut bacteria that produce inflammation in the body,” says Professor Andrew Holmes from the University of Sydney. Inflammation affects metabolism. No wonder some experts are saying that transplanting gut bacteria could become a treatment for severe obesity in the future. Some could make you Gain WeiGht in preGnancY While adding kilos in normal life might not be beneficial, during pregnancy, especially in the last trimester, it helps support the foetus and it’s just been found that Mother Nature does something clever during pregnancy. Our gut bacteria ratio alters in favour of those that help us gain weight. “This suggests our bodies have co-evolved with the microbiota and may actually be using them as a tool to help alter the mother’s metabolism,” says Professor Ruth Ley from Cornell University. Some bacteria might prOtect aGainst strOKes Swedish investigator Jens Nielsen recently examined the guts of people who had suffered a stroke, comparing them to those who hadn’t. “We found many differences but the most striking was that people who had not had a stroke had high levels of bacteria that produce beta-carotene,” he says, adding that beta-carotene is a known