Your bacterial print is as unique as your fingerprint! (EP14 Part 2)

<p>Last week’s <strong>Brain Booster</strong> was <strong>Go with your gut</strong> — a deep dive into all things gut health. It was another very long segment so I ended it after the <strong>Health Headline</strong>. That means if you haven’t watched or listened to last week’s episode, I strongly recommend you do so before you listen to this one because last week I explained the rationale for what I’m talking about today.</p><p>When it comes to gut health, <strong>What’s Missing from Modern Medicine</strong> is a nuanced, personalised approach. No two people have the same microorganisms living in their gut or on their bodies — not even identical twins. Everyone has a unique microbial identity, just as we have a unique fingerprint. This has led to crime scene investigators using not only fingerprints, but also bacterial prints — referred to as ‘touch microbial forensics’ — to track down criminals. Your bacterial inhabitants are uniquely yours, and when you touch something, you leave some of them behind. </p><p>Our unique microbial signature is also why manufactured probiotic supplements often fail to deliver the hoped-for benefits. The bacteria contained in the probiotic don’t establish colonisation in our gut, and we just poop them out. But before we go on, a few definitions. </p><p><strong>Probiotics</strong> are live micro-organisms, believed to provide health benefits when we consume them. </p><p>The prefix <strong>pro</strong> means ‘in favour of’, and <strong>bio</strong> refers to ‘life’ or ‘living organisms’. Natural probiotics — also known as dynamic probiotics — are live bacteria and yeasts that develop naturally in food via fermentation. The most common natural probiotics are yoghurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, miso, tempeh and kombucha. There’s no argument that these foods provide broad health benefits because the micro-organisms they contain are alive and active.</p><p>Manufactured probiotics, in contrast — also known as static probiotics — are isolated laboratory-cultured bacterial strains that are freeze-dried and packaged in precise amounts into daily supplements. But are they the ones you need for your specific condition? </p><p><strong>Prebiotics</strong>, on the other hand, are non-digestible plant fibres that pass through your stomach and small intestine and act as fertiliser to stimulate the growth of healthy bacteria in your colon. Therefore, prebiotics are food for probiotics.</p><p>Natural prebiotics occur in specific plant foods suc