So if we need so many bacteria to be healthy, where do we start? The good news is that we are provided our very first dose of a healthy microbiome as we slide out the birth canal. When a woman becomes pregnant her vaginal microbiome starts to change and cultivates microbes that will help the baby to digest her breast milk and will help to build the infants immune system.
While diversity is an indicator of health in the gut microbiome, conversely, the vaginal microbiome is healthier when Lactobacillus spp. dominate.
There are other ways in which a child’s microbiome can be strengthened including:
- Wet nurse. Women of all ages are able to produce breast milk, even if they aren’t pregnant. It was not uncommon for women to turn their infants over to a wet nurse. By consuming breast milk from another woman’s breast, the child is given a wider variety of microbes helping to diversify their microbiome. Unfortunately most milk banks pasteurize breast milk due to an “abundance of caution” essentially rendering the most vital part of the milk invalid.
Straight from
the teat,
what a treat!
- Mud pies & boogers. Our immune system begins in our mouth which is why you see infants and children
sticking every dang thing into their mouth! Assuming our soil isn’t tainted with toxic chemicals, eating dirt is one of nature’s ways to keep us healthy. Whether that’s living in mud huts with dirt floors or simply getting dirt on our bodies via gardening, mud baths, playing in puddles and the like, it makes sense to get dirty! Plus there is a hypothesis that explores if eating our boogers (not in public, though 90% of people admitted they do it!), may help boost our immune system as well.
People who interact
with animals and
nature feel better!
- Grooming. Human touch is vital. When we make contact with other people, trace amounts of microbes are transmitted that are then able to be processed by the recipient’s immune system. Combing hair, back rubs, and even picking zits are all examples of grooming that creates a sense of care and bonding for the recipient and also increases their microbially diversity.
Safe, non-sexual, non-threatening human touch is a vital nutrient!
- Fermented Foods. Our ancestors really knew how to “trust their gut” and intuited how to preserve foods to last beyond harvest time. Fermentation is present in every culture on the planet! Beyond preservation, fermentation uses the action of microbes to break down toxins, enhance nutritional value and provide a range of flavors.
Pig Pen surrounded by his
microbial force field
