There are around seven billion people on planet Earth and that’s the number 7 followed by 10 zeros but if you want an idea of how many live bacteria there are you would have to add another one million zeros.
Bacteria are little microorganisms that live everywhere from in the earth to inside our guts. It must have been the most extraordinary moment in one man’s life when he made the first powerful enough microscope to see them in a scraping he took from an old man’s tooth.
That happened in Delft nearly three and a half centuries ago and the same man was the first to see red blood cells and spermatozoa.
At birth a baby has absolutely no bacteria but at the very first cry they will be in the mouth and traveling south. An extraordinarily weird sounding concept but without some of these bacteria inside our gut we would not live.
This symbiotic arrangement means we give a home to these bacteria and they help break down food to enable us to absorb nutrients. They also help create our immune system and despite some types being described as bad where others are supposedly good the fact is they must all have some purpose.
For thousands of generations humans have existed by growing vegetables and catching fish and meat when possible. It is only during the past couple of generations that the habit of buying heavily processed supermarket food has become the norm.
Instead of a more balanced diet we are eating a lot of junk and sadly this applies to many young children who quickly get into the habit of thinking a readymade pie made with over processed white flower laced with salt as a preservative along with a fizzy drink that can be up to fifty per cent sugar, is normal.
When feeling bloated or constipated there is a theory that products like Threelac can assist by introducing millions of known good bacteria into the intestines to bring some relief but at the same time perhaps we should all take a closer look at what we are eating.
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