You are your microbes
You are your microbes!
The next time you look in the mirror, think about this: your body has more microbes than human cells!
But don’t panic! The microbes we are talking about are your invisible friends who fight for your health, help you digest food, affect your appetite and even mood.
Who has counted the microbes?
No one has counted the exact number of microbes or human body cells.
It is estimated that there are 100 trillion (a million million million) microbes in and on us!
If we could collect all the germs and their genes from our gut and put them on the scale, they would weigh about 1.5 to 2 kilograms.
Microbiota
The microbiota is the name for all microbes found on or in some part of our body. It is a set of microorganisms from a part of our body (microbiota of the skin, oral cavity, intestines, etc.)
Microbiome
Each microbe has its own genes. A microbiome is a set of genes of all microbes found in a particular environment. The number of genes in one person's microbiome is about 200 times greater than the number of genes in the human genome.
Every part of our digestive system has its own function and its own microbes.
Click on red dots to find out more!
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