Giulia Enders

In the industrialized world, about 90 percent of our nutrition comes from what we eat, and we are fed about 10 percent by our bacteria

In the industrialized world, about 90 percent of our nutrition comes from what we eat, and we are fed about 10 percent by our bacteria.

For humans, that can mean some people pile on the pounds even though they eat no more than others. It could be that their gut flora is extracting more energy from the food they eat

For humans, that can mean some people pile on the pounds even though they eat no more than others. It could be that their gut flora is extracting more energy from the food they eat.

Bacteria are not the only possible cause of subclinical infections—hormone imbalances, too much estrogen, lack of vitamin D, or too much gluten-rich food have all been observed to have a similar effect.

Even more impenetrable than the meninges are the coats that surround all the blood vessels passing through the brain. The only things that can make it through this tangled mess are pure sugar, minerals, and anything that is as small and fat-soluble as a neural transmitter

What our bacteria prefer is food that reaches the large intestine undigested, where they can then gobble it up.

But what do bile salts have to do with cholesterol? The answer is in the name. Cholesterol comes from the Greek words chole (bile) and stereos (solid). Cholesterol was first discovered in gall stones. Bile, which is stored in the gall bladder, is the body’s transport medium for fats and cholesterol. BSH allows bacteria to alter bile to make it work less efficiently. The cholesterol and fat dissolved in bile can then no longer be absorbed by the body and they end up, to put it bluntly, down the toilet.

Most cholesterol is produced in the liver and the gut, where tiny messenger substances manufactured by the bacteria can partly control those processes

it weren’t for cholesterol, we would have unstable cells and no sex hormones or vitamin D