The microbiome is an ecosystem of bacteria, viruses and fungi that live on and in our bodies. These microorganisms live on our skin, in our nasal passages, in our airways, and in our gut. They offer a range of benefits from helping digestion to supporting the development of the immune system.
As our behaviors and environments evolve our microbiomes change. This is when many people start losing the diversity of their microbiome. That change can cause the decline of things such as healthy metabolic function or appropriate immune responses. This decline can lead to a number of issues. These issues include the inability to:
- Produce essential vitamins
- Fend off bad bacteria
- Metabolize foods
Changes like these can make a person more susceptible to illness and disease. To read more about the microbiome, check out our blog post The gut microbiome: what you should know.