When waking up in the morning, many of us yearn for that first cup of coffee, not only for the caffeine kickstart, but also to tame the worst of the morning breath.   Contributing to the foul taste in your mouth, no doubt, were the activities of more than 700 species of microorganisms in your oral cavity.   Microorganisms in the mouth? Sharing our body space are microbes more or less equal to the number of cells in the body.  This vast community of microorganisms that are resident in the body is called the microbiome.  The human microbiome consists of a core microbiome that is common to all individuals, and a variable microbiome that is unique to individuals, depending on physiological

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the devastating effect a virus can have on the world’s population.  Other familiar viruses that affect people are the influenza virus, the Ebola virus, and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).  The human body is no stranger to viruses and there is indeed a viper’s nest of viruses in and on the body!  Not only viruses, but there are also other microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, and archaea (primitive single-celled organisms) present and in such large numbers that they are viewed as one of the organs of the body.   The bacteria and these other microbes make up what is known as the microbiome, which means “small living community”.  The viruses in the human body are collectively

Microscopically small organisms, consisting of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other single cell organisms, live in and on our bodies.  Some are found on the skin, in the mouth, the nose, the urogenital system, but the vast majority are found in the gastrointestinal tract (known as the gut), particularly in the large intestine (colon).  This body wide collection of microorganisms, including their genetic material, is known as the microbiome.  The term “microbiota” is used to refer to the community of microorganisms themselves, usually in a specific environment, for example the gut microbiota.  These microorganisms play a vital role in the functioning of our bodies and scientists view the microbiome as an “essential organ” of the human body.  More than 1 000

The terms prebiotics, probiotics, and recently postbiotics, are being bandied about in relation to improving gut health.   The distinction is not always clear and the term postbiotics is not widely known.  The term “biotic” is derived from the Greek word “biōtikós”, which means pertaining to life and is generally used when referring to living organisms that make up a biological ecosystem, together with their host. Microorganisms in the gut. We live with about 2 kg of microscopically small organisms in our gastrointestinal tracts (gut), called the gut microbiome.  Consisting of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other single cell organisms, these microorganisms are beneficial colonizers that play an important role in four broad areas of health, namely nutrition, immunity, behavior, and disease.

The functioning of the human body can be compared to a chemical factory, where many individual chemical processes are integrated into a single unit with a common purpose – to keep us alive. Just like any factory, the body needs raw materials to fuel these chemical production processes.  The body’s supply chain has two main points of entry, the nose, and the mouth.  When we breathe in, oxygen-containing air reaches the lungs, where life-giving oxygen is absorbed into the blood stream, which then carries oxygen to the rest of the body. Oxygen is crucial for nearly all bodily functions. The mouth is the entry point for food and fluids, which becomes the fuel for the chemical processes of digestion in

We may not be aware that we live with 2 kg of microscopically small bacteria in our gastro-intestinal tracts (gut), which play a vital role in the functioning of our bodies. Bacteria are found on the skin, in the mouth, the nose, the urogenital system, but the vast majority are found in the gut, particularly in the large intestine (colon). These bacteria can be beneficial, harmless or harmful to the human body. This collection of bacteria, along with their genetic material, make up the microbiome. The word “microbiome” combines two concepts, where “micro” refers to microorganisms and “biome” refers to a specific habitat that is home to a living community. The terms “microbiome” and “microbiota” are sometimes used interchangeably, but

Antibiotics are similar to highly motivated soldiers, armed to the teeth, which hunt down and kill the enemy – the enemy being “bad” (harmful) bacteria that cause infections in the human body.  Antibiotics very effectively wipe out whole colonies of bacteria. When the battle cry runs out, these soldiers attack the enemy called “Bacteria” in specialised ways: by preventing bacteria to form cell walls; by dissolving their cell walls; by disabling the bacterial cells’ ability to build proteins, without which they cannot survive; and by breaking up the bacteria’s DNA, without which they cannot reproduce. Alas, were these soldiers rather assassins or snipers that killed selectively, then the “good” (beneficial) bacteria in the body would also have survived! The soldiers