How Balancing Gut Bacteria Can Ease Autoimmune Diseases

It seems we really are what we eat.

In a recent article “Emerging Concepts on the Gut Microbiome and Multiple Sclerosis,” co-authors Justin Glenn and Ellen Mowry, both from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, reviewed the relationship between gut bacteria and autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS).

Among other things, they studied how this information could be used to benefit those with chronic illnesses.

As part of the digestive system the human gut flora contains more bacteria than any other part of the body. Thegut flora (gut microbiota, or gastrointestinal microbiota) is the complex community of microorganisms that live in the digestive tracts of humans, other animals, and even insects.

Within the flora is both good and bad bacteria.

While human gut flora develops within the first two years of life to aid the digestive tract, the composition of this gut flora can change over time, causing an imbalance in the bacteria.

Read more: The truth about the bacteria in your gut »