90% of the cells in the body are non-human— mostly bacteria and fungal

mpkb.org...

According to a recent National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimate, 90% of cells in the human body are bacterial, fungal, or otherwise non-human.

Humans are meat robots built round a metal skeleton packed with flesh and fats— full of bacteria and fungus. I think it's safe to assume that there are likely to be more bacteria cells on any given part of your body than there are on a regularly washed toilet seat.

So... conspiracy?

.. to purchase cleaning products?

If so, I would agree.

Think of all the OCD ppls, they got issues elsewhere project it onto an imperfect world.

I think modern "disinfect" everything same, just to lesser degree.

Fear sells

There's more bacteria in your stomach and digestive system than on your skin. We're practically designed around our digestive system; mouth and eyes, neck, stomach, abdomen.

Even more incredible is that there are actually chemical messages sent between digestive bacteria and our digestive system. We have 100 million neurons in that system, along with around 100 trillion microbes.

www.apa.org...

a reply to: pl3bscheese

Well, certain things are nice to keep clean, like hands, cloathes and toilets and keeping a basic regime of hygienic habits, but in general water cleans the human body quite fine, but our society demands certain human scents and oils improper.

Computer keyboards and doorlids are some of the most contaminated things in your daily life, so it's wise to take some q-tips and some anti-bac and clean the keyboard every now and then. Had we lived in the forest or in the sea things would be different, but this whole package of make-up and beauty-products that also keeps one clean is pretty far out if you ask me. Conspiracy? Well you can't do much to dead cells like hair and nails, but that's not stopping them from broadcasting their supposed hi-tech molecules and vitamins and their supposed effects on hair. Nah, stay clean, it's the best in the long run, but never be afraid of get your hands dirty every now and then, that's healthy in a way too.

originally posted by: stormcell
We have 100 million neurons in that system

Indeed, we actually have brain-like structures in our abdomen, probably essential to what Hermes calls our nous or consciousness.

I keep very basic hygiene, and think we overdo it 99% of the time. It seems best to be adapted to your lifestyle, and living arrangements. Pathological to think we can even be "clean", imo.

I get that some people have serious issues with lack of hygiene, some areas lack clean water... disease can be common. I don't know, but would guess the average slummer in India who is still alive in 2015 has a superior immune system to the Average Caucasian in the US.

My way to stay disease free was to get sick a lot as a kid, I was rugrat in sewers, trash dumps, everywhere... was fun. Don't really get sick anymore. Damned overprotective parents ruining their kids immune systems.

Then were almost identical to a mushroom and not the chimp.. maybe human means mushroom in Latin after all..?

a reply to: Utnapisjtim

Without all those different bacteria and fungi our body and immune system could not function.

a reply to: Utnapisjtim

What is even more interesting is the connection between the stomach bacteria and mental illness.

www.psychologytoday.com...

We are never truly alone. On our skin, in our gums, and in our guts live 100 trillion organisms, altogether known as the microbiome. These beasties comprise 90% of the cells of our bodies, though these cells are so tiny in size that it appears our own human cells predominate. It is only recently that we have begun to study these organisms with any depth. Most of them live within the gut, and cannot be cultured, and only with the advent of advanced genetic testing have we been able to have a better understanding of the variety and numbers of microbes we’re dealing with. They are Bacteria, Archaea (link is external), and even some eukariotic (link is external) parasites, protozoans, and fungi.

What do they have to do with psychiatry? It turns out way more than we might have suspected. The gut and brain have a steady ability to communicate via the nervous system, hormones, and the immune system. Some of the microbiome can release neurotransmitters, just like our own neurons do, speaking to the brain in its own language via the vagus nerve.

To have a full understanding of how the whole gut-brain connection works, you need robust knowledge of endocrinology, immunology, pathology, and neurology, which is a bit beyond the scope of a blog article. However, to break it down to simplistic terms, here are the basic links:

1) The body responds to stress (mental or physical) via the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. For example, if you are eating lunch and a lion jumps into the middle of your picnic table, your “fight or flight” system is fired into full gear, your heart pounds, your pupils dilate, your hair stands on end, natural steroids and adrenaline flood your system to strengthen your muscles and give you an extra burst of speed. Even your platelets change shape so they are more sticky, leaving you less likely to bleed out if you are attacked. Naturally, our bodies have negative feedback that can tone down the fight or flight response once the danger is past (assuming you survive). Under conditions of chronic stress, however, mental or physical, the feedback tends to get messed up, leading to symptoms of chronic stress (which includes mental issues such as anxiety or clinical depression, but also physical problems such as chronic gut problems, headaches, high blood pressure, etc.). What does all of that have to do with the gut?

2) While the hormonal system that regulates fight-or-flight, rest-and-recovery, and everything in between is easy to conceptualize, the second underlying system, the immune system, is far more complex and works at a cellular level. Our bodies aren’t particularly sophisticated when it comes to facing off against stress. Our stress response doesn’t readily distinguish between mental and physical distress; your heart pounds and you tremble with anxiety when you are in an uncomfortable meeting with your boss, when such a reaction is not helpful in that situation, though it might have helped with the lion. And not only to we respond to the tough day on the job with a hormonal response, but also an immunological one. When our body is under stress, it releases what are called inflammatory cytokines, little chemical messengers that bring a certain part of our immune system into high alert. In a sense, our body reacts to all stress as if it were an infection, and to chronic stress as if it were a chronic infection.* Now the immune system works wonders and inflammation saves your life nearly every day from all the pathogens out there like the flu and strep, but chronic levels of inflammatory response also lead to all sorts of chronic disease, for example depressive disorders, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, autoimmune diseases such as ulcerative colitis and multiple sclerosis. Immune system activation can also determine whether or not we develop cancer. Where does the gut get involved? Well, it turns out the gut microbiome plays a key role in regulating our immune response. Thus the make-up of our gut microbiome could make the difference as to whether we are sick or well, both mentally and physically.

3) Animal and human studies support the theory that pathogenic bacteria in the gut, such as C. Difficile, or in certain circumstances, H. Pylori, lead to human disease, and not just the obvious direct illnesses, pseudomembranous colitis (link is external)and ulcers. These bacteria also interact with the immune system in the gut to cause the release of inflammatory cytokines, stress steroids, and a systemic stress response (similar in most ways to the lion attack). Some of the responses of the gut even have an effect on our pain response…yes, people with certain unfavorable gut bacteria might be more sensitive to pain than others.

Amazing and apparently they have more to do with how body systems work than previously known.

To add to the post above:
a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight

Research is now saying that obesity is also linked to gut bacteria(of course not in all cases).

Different kinds of bacteria that live inside the gut can help spur obesity or protect against it, according to new research from scientists at Washington University in St. Louis.

Source

A life form consisting of many other life forms...

originally posted by: Utnapisjtim
mpkb.org...

According to a recent National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimate, 90% of cells in the human body are bacterial, fungal, or otherwise non-human.

Humans are meat robots built round a metal skeleton packed with flesh and fats— full of bacteria and fungus. I think it's safe to assume that there are likely to be more bacteria cells on any given part of your body than there are on a regularly washed toilet seat.

That is actually a good way to look at it. We rely on these microbes to stay healthy. The chemicals they make are necessary sometimes, either by us or by the food we consume. I am not afraid of these microbes, but I also would not do things I know will increase my chances of getting sick, such as sitting in a doctors office full of sick people when I do not really need to be there. You have to take reasonable care not to contaminate your foods. I would rather pull a carrot out of the garden and wipe it on my shirt and eat it than go to a church full of people coughing and sneezing.

Yep. Life married to a microbiologist is never dull.

Why do you think your poo and farts smell different from everyone else's? And don't look quite like anyone else's and change depending on what you eat or what anti-biotics you're on?

It's because you are a walking bug farm and the little critters change character and population depending on what you're doing with them.

At least he doesn't expect me to treat our house like a laboratory and try to keep it germ free because he knows we need our bugs to stay healthy.

a reply to: TheConstruKctionofLight

Great article. Think what this could mean for developing new medicine. The medication used for schizophrenia hasn't been changed much since the 50's. And they still have no clue as to how and why it works, but they know dopamine is somehow involved. Heh. Dopamine is always involved, so blocking dopamine alone, blocks the person. What if the truth is that certain microbes or 'microbiome' need certain chemicals in certain modes to operate properly or to produce the right chemicals? And if they get the wrong stuff or too much or not enough, they're malfunctioning producing the confusion and lingual defects typical to schizophrenia, the psychosis?

originally posted by: ketsuko

we need our bugs to stay healthy.

Yep. It all comes down to nutrition and hygiene, each individual needs an individual cocktail of chemicals to feed their bodies with in order to entertain just the right population of «bugs» and a healthy, satisfied one, and kept in cabal within its proper boundaries. These «bugs» are mostly our friends. Just don't cut vegetables and meat with the same knife— and a few other things....