Even Your Doctor is Full of (Microbe) Poo

In case you haven’t heard about this whole microbiome thing, let me offer a quick primer:

• 90% of the cells in and on your body are not human cells — they belong, rather, to the numerous microbes (bacteria, basically) that inhabit us
• 99% of the genes in and on our body belong to these microbes (link). That’s right, your genes are a bit more obscure in their space than, say, Opera’s browser.
• Basically, just about any way you cut it, you — as a physical being — are mostly not you (for more, read Brendan Buhler’s fantastic article)

That’s pretty amazing. It has all sorts of wacky implications, not least of which is the rise of poop transplants (well explored on Medium, here).

But here’s my favorite part:

It was only recently (late ‘90s) that the microbiome idea took hold in the scientific community. That means, for the vast majority of the two centuries since biology as a discipline was born, human biologists didn’t understand — nay, didn’t even see — 90% of they material they should have been studying. It also means that if you’re of legal driving age, the doctor who delivered you probably did not know what he was delivering: a bouncing bundle of microbes.

Kinda makes you wonder if anyone really knows what they hell they’re talking about.

I mean, what topic in human health shouldn’t be completely uprooted by this discovery? Poop transplants and hook worms may be getting all of the attention, but if I break my toe, shouldn’t my treatment take into account the 10 microbe cells surrounding each human cell in that damaged tissue? And the mystery around why fruits and vegetables make us live longer but dietary supplements composed of the same vitamins have a neutral or negative effect? My money is on microbes.

It’s a dramatic — almost farcical — reminder that we define expertise relative to historic heights; and that (conveniently for us) is flattering to the present… and adorably naive. Which is not to decry modern science but rather to gesture in awe at the fact that there is so much left to discover. Well, and to say this: be skeptical. Of diet books, of doctors, of athletes, and especially of surgeons. In case the constant, wildly conflicting study results and unsatisfactory debates aren’t reminder enough, let this be near proof that we don’t really know. And the smartest among us can only hope to know that. Beware certainty! And, in the meantime, make friends with your microbes.