Gut microflora is a collection of non-pathogenic microorganisms that live in the intestines of a healthy person. Human and bacterial organisms coexist in a mutually beneficial cooperation – symbiosis. Flora in the intestine appears as early as infancy and persists throughout a person’s life.

Before that, in the normal course of pregnancy, there is not a single bacteria in the whole body of the child. Already during childbirth, the baby’s body begins to get acquainted with the mother’s microorganisms. Lactobacilli are mainly important for the baby, which are the first protectors against infection. After birth and during the breastfeeding process, the intestinal colonization with bacteria only increases. It is mainly bifidobacteria. Relatively stable composition of bacteria becomes to the first month of life of the child.

Currently, all scientists have concluded that the human body and its inhabiting microorganisms – a single functioning system. But most striking is the research that suggests a close relationship between the brain and the gut. It is the gut and its microflora affect mental and emotional state. That is, depression and depression can be a consequence of a violation of the composition of the bacteria in the gut or a violation of their quantity.

What is the gut microflora responsible for?

Digestion
One of the most important functions of gut bacteria is to participate in the process of digesting food. It is such a giant factory for cleaning the grains from the chaff. When all incoming food, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates are broken down by enzymes whose work is activated by the gut. The intestines are the final, but most time-consuming, part of the digestive process. It is there, with the help of the microbiome starts the process of sorting out useful substances from unnecessary garbage. On how healthy the intestines and the entire digestive tract, and depends on the quality of sorting food and the amount of useful substances that are absorbed and assimilated it in the intestines.

Protection
Alone in the field is not a warrior – a phrase that aptly describes the work of the intestines. The less “good” bacteria in it, the more space there is for the “bad” ones. The beneficial bacteria inhibit the growth of infectious agents, thereby maintaining the protective functions of the whole body.

Immunity
When the body’s defense is strong, the disease will not go away. And a big role in this plays the immune system, whose home is the intestines. How does this happen? Intestinal bacteria stimulate the synthesis of immunoglobulins – special proteins that increase the body’s defenses against dangerous infections. Immunoglobulins populate the walls of the intestine, with enough of which pathogens do not penetrate. The beneficial bacteria also contribute to the maturation of the phagocytic cell system (nonspecific immunity), which is capable of absorbing and destroying pathogenic germs.