What is the Gut Microbiome?
In this article we'll explore the difference between the terms "microbiota" and "microbiome" and gain some fascinating insight into the world inside our bodies.
The Gut Microbiota
The gut microbiota refers to the microorganism community living in our digestive tracts. Scientists estimate there are 100 trillion microbes in your gut. To give you an idea of scale, imagine every single person who has ever lived on earth lined up. For every person in that line, there would be over 850 microorganisms living in your gut!
There are also more microbes in your gut than there are human cells. If you were a human cell living in your gut, recent estimates suggest you would be outnumbered 3:1 by non-human species. These gut microbes are not enemies though. They perform vital functions for us which we can’t do alone.
The Gut Microbiome
The microbiome describes all the genes which are contained within all the species of your gut microbiota. In other words, if you sequenced all the genetic material of your gut microbes, you would get the microbiome. Recent developments in sequencing methods have revealed the vast diversity of microbial species within our guts. While we as humans have 23,000 different genes, the microbiome tops 3 million genes.
The terms "microbiota" and "microbiome" are often used interchangeably. In remembering the difference, think of the microbiota being like the population of the UK, and the microbiome being the genetic library of everyone in the UK.
How does knowing this help my gut health?
There are vast numbers and incredible diversity of microbes in our gut. When you eat, you're not just feeding yourself, you're nourishing your gut microbiota and each species of microbe has different dietary preferences. Eating the same thing each day does not adequately address the needs of every microbe species. That's why at The Gut Tailor we have developed our Daily Diversity collection to allow you to vary your diet each day. By switching up your nutrition, you maximise the number of species that you can nourish in your gut. Studies have shown that increased numbers of microbe species is beneficial for disease reduction and better health outcomes.
