The journal Scientific American in their June 2012 issue looked at the social network of the bacteria in our digestive tract and on our skin. As I have previously stated the role of our commensal bacteria as significant players in our health and function is becoming more and more understood. Whilst those of us involved in alternative, complementary or functional medicine have regarded the digestive tract and its commensal inhabitants as a primary partner in the hunt for health – it is still a strange concept to the majority of clinicians who still focus on bacteria as the enemy.
The diagram below is extracted from the June edition of Scientific American, if you visit their interactive site, more can be learnt about the bacteria including links to a variety of related papers.
