“We are what we eat” should actually say, “We are what our microbes eat.” In fact, what we eat immediately and profoundly influences our gut microbiome, which then determines our health.

With trillions of microorganisms including bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa, taking residence in our guts, it’s no surprise they play significant and precise roles in our overall health. Research reveals a number of disease states linked to the landscape of the microbiome. IBD patients, for example, tend to have less bacterial diversity than normal. They also have a lower quantity of butyrate-producing bacteria. A recent study showed that the bacteria in our guts can also produce amyloid and lipopolysaccharides, both instrumental in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Interest in pioneering into the microbiome’s influence on our health piqued when the two most predominant bacterial groups – gram positive Firmucutes and gram negative Bacteroidetes – were found to play a role in obesity. In short, when the ratio between the two bacteria shifted towards a higher abundance of Firmicutes, a subject was found to be more prone to obesity. Research took that knowledge a step further, transplanting the “obese” bacteria into a host, only to discover the host also became obese, which propelled our journey into gut microbiome engineering.