Topics in this article:
Microbes From Nature
Soil Microbes that Make Us Feel Happy
The Beneficial Role of Pathogenic Microbes
1,000 Different Species of Probiotics in the Human Body
Q: If the goal is to replenish the human gut microbe community, why would a probiotic consist of soil-based organisms?
Soil-based organisms are for soil, are they not? Why not culture beneficial human-based microbiota instead of soil-based organisms?
A: This is a valid question. It drives at the difference between the fundamentally scientific approach and the approach designed by Nature.
Microbes From Nature
Bottom line is, the human body was originally made from the "clay" of the Earth. Clays commonly contain friendly bacteria and archaea, both of which are found in the human gut (archaea help digest fibrous material).
The world of beneficial microbes date back over 3.5 billion years, and still play numerous ecological roles, including carbon fixation, nitrogen cycling, soil building through organic compound decomposition, and maintaining microbial symbiotic (compatible) and syntrophic (feeding off of each other) communities within the human body.
The organisms that exist in the body today were first derived from the soil, further derived from our mothers during birth and breast feeding, and replenished from the soil when walking barefoot, when digging in the healthy garden earth, or when eating unwashed self-grown garden produce.
Beneficial bacteria and archaea populations in the gut resemble ratios also found in earthen sources—clay, humate, soil, and ocean environments.
Thus, the best way to preserve these beneficial microbes for human ingestion is in their most common protective environment—clays and humic earth.
For this reason our Friendly Flora formula is preserved in a base of Humic/Fulvic Earth and Sacred Clay.
Archaea are particularly abundant within clays, humate (ancient composted forests or sea bed plants), among the sea life in the oceans, and in volcanic vents.
Friendly bacteria and archaea are a major part of life on Earth, within the soils, within animal life, and within the human body. They are part of the microbiota of all organisms. In the human microbiome, they are important in the gut, mouth, and on the skin.
Science has tried to make us believe that only laboratories and chemically-dependent farms can design something safe for the human body.
Common sense tells us otherwise.
Soil Microbes that Make Us Feel Happy
Soil microbes are typically better and safer at lifting moods than chemical medications.
The soil organism, mycobacterium vaccae, has been scientifically associated with decreasing anxiety and increasing serotonin. This helps explain the joy and serenity experienced by gardeners.
Researchers found that the presence of the bacteria Mycobacterium vaccae (which is common in soil and not pathogenic to humans) created an immune response that stimulated serotonin sensitivity in the certain parts of the brain. A couple of things to take note of here: First, not all immune responses are bad. They are simply signals. Secondly, this bacteria’s presence in the gut results in actual behavioral modifications via serotonin which has a happy, calming effect.
Other microbes, like those of the Lactobacillis genre, assist in the digestion of our food, and the assimilation of nutrients.
Soil-based microbes also benefit the immune system. This explains why children raised on chemical-free, organically grown farms have fewer allergies and illnesses than children raised in the cities or on farms that use chemicals.
The Beneficial Role of Pathogenic Microbes
For humans, the earth is the primary source of biotics in general. Well-composted soils mean "already balanced by Nature" in a microbial sense.
Soil biology has thousands of beneficial microbes in it. It can also have non-beneficial microbes if the soil is polluted or out of balance. These are referred to as pathogenic microbes, although their real function is to consume the pollutants so balance can eventually be restored.
The health of a soil and the health of a human body is utterly dependent upon striking a proper balance between pathogenic and beneficial microbes.
Once brought back into balance the pathogenic microbes die off, or are consumed by the friendlies, until they achieve normal background levels.
They both play a role in the health of the soil—one decomposing dead plant material or the breakdown of pollutants in the soil into harmless components, the other by improving nutrient uptake by the plant roots.
So in that sense, there are only friendly microbes.
This is the way of Nature in the soil. This is also the way of Nature in the body.
When the human body gets out of balance from diet, or toxins, or worry, pathogenic microbes can get the upper hand—simply because their natural food source is dominant in the body. In some cases these happen to be an excess of hormones from negative thought patterns and emotions.
The beneficial microbes regain the dominant role when the body is brought back into balance through correct diet, lifestyle, and attitude.
1,000 Different Species of Probiotics in the Human Body
The human body contains close to 1,000 different species of microbes. The most predominant ones in the intestines are the Lactobacillus, the Bifidobacterium, and the Bacillus genera.
It is for this reason our Friendly Flora contains the following eight non-competing species of probiotics supplemented in a protective humate base with several prebiotic sources to activate rapid repopulation of natural gut flora balance (read The Secret to a Successful Probiotic Replenishment Program for a more thorough understanding of the importance of non-competing probiotics and prebiotic sources):
Lactobacillis Acidophilus,
Bifidobacterium Bifidum,
Bacillus Licheniformis,
Bacillus Subtilis,
Lactobacillus Lactis,
Lactobacillus Casei,
Lactobacillus Rhamnosus,
Lactobacillus Plantarum
Several species found in the intestines can be easily found in Nature and cultured in a laboratory for probiotic supplements (thus the source of soil-based organisms (SBOs).
Others found in the intestines do not culture well outside of their natural soil or biological environments, thus, the importance of ingesting soil (like clay or humic/fulvic earth) or maintaining regular contact with quality, chemical-free soil to derive the benefits of a broad spectrum of soil-based organisms and their beneficial properties in human health, both physical and psychological.
For all of these reasons, and many more, you can see why we are proponents of deriving our microbes from soil sources, i.e. eating clay and humic earth containing their own variety of naturally occurring soil-based organisms, especially when combined with additional known species beneficial for human gut health.
It is important for cultivated beneficial microbes to be housed within a humate/clay base:
- for protection from stomach acids,
- for future propagation in the gut,
- as well as for a long shelf life without refrigeration.
All of these benefits can be found in our Friendly Flora formula.
All the best of health & happiness,
enjoy the simple gifts from Nature!
