The Microbiome’s Impact in the Health Field

The human microbiome is normally located within the gut and has been linked to our overall health. It is a collection of bacteria, viruses, and different organisms that resides in the gut and helps us maintain a health lifestyle. The article states that it has been found to have a link with various diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. I found it very interesting that something that resides in our gut could be contributing to high blood pressure which has to do with your heart and blood flow. This could mean that there could be new alternatives to medicines and ways to treat hypertension and obesity.

The article also says there has been other diseases such as different types of cancer that have been associated with gut microbiome. The article states that that Helicobacter pylori has been linked with causing gastric carcinoma and that Fusobacterium nucleatum has been found in colorectal cancer. This could mean that scientists could possibly figure out how to prevent cancer before it develops by learning how to manipulate and control these bacteria within the gut microbiome. The article also says that recently there has been a study linking postmenopausal women with breast cancer to different microbiomes compared to healthy individuals. This means that not only does the microbiome affect digestive cancers but others as well. This could be critical in the future for both the prevention and maybe even ways to help combat or cure certain types of cancers.

The human microbiome does not just influence the chance of gaining certain types of diseases but other health factors as well. There was a recent study that came out that has connected gut microbiome with sleep quality. The study found that microbiome diversity and total amount of microbes was positively related to the amount of time people spent asleep. The study also connected that microbiome diversity lead to less frequency of waking up during sleeping. This could be very beneficial for human health because sleep is very important for day to day function and disruptions in sleep could have very negative consequences on people’s body and mind. If scientists could find a way to change people’s gut microbiome so that they could get better sleep then that could be life changing to many individuals that suffer from insomnia or waking up frequently during the night. Overall the gut microbiome has many linkages to general health and could be very useful in either preventing or providing alternatives for medicine to cure the diseases.