0 Scientists Examine 100 Trillion Microbes in Human Feces

The human large intestine is a 5-foot long, dark, dank and twisting corridor whose repetitive contractions function to squeeze the last remaining drops of water and the final bits of nutrient from feces before expulsion from our bodies.


Aiding the large intestine in this task are trillions of microbes that reside in the gut, where they help digest foods we would otherwise have to avoid. In this way the bugs contribute to our overall health.
Some of these tiny settlers are with us from birth, imparted from our mothers, while others gradually colonize our bodies as we grow. This microbial community is as diverse as any found in Earths seas or soils, numbering up to 100 trillion individuals and representing more than 1,000 different species.


"This is the densest bacterial ecosystem known in nature," Jeffrey Gordon, a microbiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, told LiveScience. "The density of colonization of the distal gut is just enormous."
Now a significant chunk of genes from those microbes has been decoded.
Using fecal samples from two healthy adult volunteers who did not receive any antibiotics or other medications for a year prior to the study, Gordon and colleagues have described and analyzed more than 60,000 genes from each individual.
The teams findings, detailed in the June 2 issue of the journal Science, will help scientists better understand how these microscopic life forms perform their many functions. It will also help researchers determine whether the microbial communities we each carry inside are evolving as a result of changing diets and lifestyles.
A better understanding of these things could allow scientists to one day manipulate the microbial communities within us in order to improve health.
For example, an upcoming study by Buck Samuel, a graduate student in Gordons lab and a co-author in the current study, finds that one of the microbes whose genes were analyzed helps determine how much calories we absorb from the food we eat. Called Methanobrevibacter smithii, it eats up hydrogen waste products released by other microbes in our gut and converts it into methane gas, which we release, discreetly or otherwise.

0 Reasons Due To Diabetes Revealed Fossil Feces

Lifestyle of modern man is always being compared to ancient human, supposedly much healthier so seldom get diabetes. Now the assumption is proved true thanks to the discovery of fossil feces belong to Native Americans.

Fossilized feces are estimated to last 1,000 years old were found in desert areas in the southwestern United States. Because of the time there were many immigrants from Europe, it is believed the owner is a native who inhabited the area.

Based on the results of molecular analysis, the scientists concluded that the content and feces in the fossil record is very high. Fiber content compared to the modern human feces, the fiber is said to reach 20 to 30 times more.
This difference is believed to be associated with diet or food choices at the time the natives, which is more dominated by pear, yucca and beans. Compared with modern humans consume more and more junk food, diet is certainly a lot healthier.

"When we observe the natives of the southwestern United States, there is a change in diet in the 20th century. They became acquainted with foods that have very high glycemic index," said Karl Reinhard of the University of Nebrasca Livecience.

Reinhard is the glycemic index is a number that indicates whether a food is broken down easily into simple sugars, the range is between 1-100. Southwestern Native Americans 1,000 years ago is estimated to consume more foods with low glycemic index that is 23.

The higher the glycemic index of a food, the higher the risk of diabetes is caused due to the sugar solution can be faster than energy consumption, especially of modern humans moving further apart. This condition can lead to diabetes mellitus or excess levels of sugar, especially type 2.

Genetically, southwestern Native Americans have a higher susceptibility than the Caucasian race in terms of diabetes risk. Therefore, if 1,000 years ago not many who get diabetes, it means his diet is very healthy.