The microbial flora, including bacteria, fungi and viruses in our body, also called microbiota, requires all microorganisms to have a specific environment. In humans, the microbiota includes bacteria, fungi, viruses and is found on the skin, in the intestine and in the mucous membranes.
100,000 billion: this is the number of bacteria present in our intestinal flora! This number you surely choose but they play an essential role in digestion. They help us digest foods that we could not assimilate without them and distribute certain amino acids and vitamins. The microbiota also participates in the activation of our lymphocytes which are immune cells that destroy pathogens. We are talking about symbiosis between the microbiota and humans, neither can survive without the other.
This set of microorganisms appears from our birth and is considered mature around 3 or 4 years old.
Several factors can modify the range of microbiota contained in our body: diet, lifestyle, stress, taking antibiotics or even the environment!
A simple imbalance of this flora can be enough to cause different pathologies, more or less severe such as diabetes, obesity, Parkinson's disease, dysregulation of immunity and autoimmune diseases such as Crohn's.
In short: it is essential to our life.