Our microbes The gut can have a big impact on our health, but research shows that what surrounds us in our environment—known as nature’s natural microbiome—can also have a big impact. This suggests that we should all spend more time interacting with nature, both outdoors and indoors.

I was first introduced to this emerging area of ​​science by Professor Gretchen Daily from Stanford University. He discussed a Finnish research project that showed how allowing kindergarten-aged children to play in a yard with “dirt” from the forest floor resulted in a significant positive impact of their gut microbiome. Seventy-nine children participated, all living in urban environments and spending most of their days in different daycare centers around Finland. The only difference between them is that these daycare centers have three different types of outdoor spaces.

The first type is a fairly standard outdoor playground, consisting of concrete, gravel, and some plastic mats. The second is the type commonly found in daycare environments that are already in nature, with grass, soil, and planted areas for children to play. and gravel covered parts of the forest floor and soil from the local coniferous forest.

Children were encouraged to play in only one of the three types of playgrounds each day during the 28 days of the experiment (note that some kindergartens had multiple playgrounds). Before and after play periods, the children’s skin and gut microbiota were measured using genetic sequencing of bacteria taken from skin swabs and stool samples, along with changes in the cells of T and cytokines in their blood. These cells and proteins play a critical role in preventing autoimmunity and autoimmune diseases; their levels are often used as an indicator of how well the immune system is functioning.

Amazing results emerged. Children who play in experimental grounds show a significant increase in the diversity of microbiota on their skin and in their gut compared to children who play in urban and nature-orientated areas. Importantly, these are the “good” types of microbiota—those associated with health benefits. There was also a significant improvement in the children’s immune scores, indicating that they acquired enhanced immunoregulatory pathways—which indicate a reduced risk of immune-mediated diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease. bowel and rheumatoid arthritis.

The importance of this study cannot be overstated. This means that even short-term exposure to microbial diversity in nature has the potential to change the diversity of the microbiota on our skin and in our gut. In addition, this suggests that altered gut microbiota may modulate the function of our immune system.

A Healthy Microbiome Is Made, Not Born

Everyone has a distinct community of microbes in their gut—a person’s ethnicity, the food they eat, antibiotic use, body size, and the amount they consume all leave a distinct signature on their gut microbial diversity . The role of these microbiota communities is crucial. Our organs can only synthesize 11 of the 20 essential amino acids we need, so the rest, along with 13 essential vitamins, are obtained and synthesized by our gut microbes.

And these microbial communities not only help our gut absorb nutrients from food. Microbes also produce some of the most important compounds for our health, including immuno-suppressants, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory compounds. It appears to be related to the functioning of our immune system, central nervous system, and health outcomes, so clear correlations have been found between specific gut microbiota—so-called “disease” microbiome—and some diseases. Those with distinct gut microbial signatures include irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, and colorectal cancer as well as nonintestinal diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.