How Can You Keep Your Microbiome Healthy?

The beneficial bacteria, viruses, and fungi that help us survive in this world need our attention

Newborns take time to develop their microbiome, with help from their mother's milk and vaginal delivery. andres chaparro/Pexels

The human microbiome—that invisible world of bacteria, viruses, and fungi in and on our bodies—was little studied even though scientists have known about it for centuries. Now the world of science and medicine is paying closer attention.

“There is an ecological problem—a climate change—now happening inside of us,” Martin Blaser said, a pioneer in the field and the new director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine at Rutgers University Biomedical and Health Sciences.

“There’s a lot of discussion about climate change in the world but very little about a parallel process happening within us as our modern lifestyle affects the microbes that live inside us.”