In ancient Egypt the tombs were prepared for the god-king pharaohs. Every organ was removed and placed in to beuatifully carved vessels. During the process of preserving evetything that was important they shoved a stick up through the nose; into the brain; stirred it up and poured into the sewer system.Imagine, these tomb preparers were so dumb, they didn't know the value of the 2-3 pound organ in the skull. That sort of reminds me of the medical community not knowing the importance of the 2-3 pounds of gut flora living in our digestive tract. This flora out numbers the human cells in your body 10 to 1.
All humans are 99.9% similar in genetic make-up but the gut flora is so diverse, no two people have more than a 40% overlap. The majority of your immune system resides in the gut biomass. 90% of chronic conditions are a result of gut biome mismatch or insufficiency. Your food cravings, nutritional needs, mood, heart, skin, brain health are all dependent on the health of the old friends you carry in your gut. The figure below gives a snapshot of some conditions that you'd be afflicted with if you lack sufficient breadth and depth of gut biome diversity.
People are born without bacteria, and acquire a gut biomass in the first few years of life. Babies get their first dose of microbes as they're passing through their mother's birth canal. Babies born by caesarean section don't acquire their microbes this way. In fact, studies show that C-section babies have a markedly different microbiota from vaginal birth babies, and may be at higher risk for certain types of allergies and obesity. The gut biomass in C-section babies more resembles skin bacteria strains, and can take a lifetime to normalize. While the gut biome is initially forming a baby's metabolic, immune, cognitive, and reproductive systems are undergoing extensive development.
Since the 1950s, it is well known that feeding livestock antibiotics makes them gain weight like crazy. It was first this weight gain - THEN farmers noticed with their newfound artificial disease resistance animals could be packed closer together.
Western medicine is the greatest development for acute or traumatic conditions. But just by the ignorance surrounding the conditions that stem from the gut is shockingly sad. The existential fallacy in logic is: an argument has a universal context and a particular solution. The premise that bacteria is bad so anything that fights bacterial growth is good is wrecking our health. Destroying the gut biome is doing harm. Do not take an anti-biotic 'just in case'. Never deprive antibiotics from someone very sick, but realize that most childhood colds, ear infections, sore throats just go away on their own. You have no idea the damage you're doing to the majority of your cells.
Now our health food stores are packed with probiotics sometimes containing 'many' strains of bacteria. The odds of a store bought probiotic helping your gut flora is liken to winning the lottery. It's depth, breadth and biodiversity that makes a healthy gut. The science is not out yet on what externalities may help cultivate a healthy biomass. Sadly, science is just now getting to the point of quanitfying the many issues that can result from having a weak gut biome. Exchanging poop is much more likely to help you, or simply eat real food. I KNOW thats a bridge too far for many.