literature invites us to see people in particular that i like to see myself as the kids find strange grownup grown. might only object of america is to share with a fine beautiful. she does leave books on youtube. wherever we go they're always with us microbes are everywhere. in our hands before and after we wash them behind our ears. on our little toes on t.v. and yes inside us too especially deep in our gut. today we'll be talking about our micro biome the countless tiny organisms inside our bodies and in our feces it may not be appetizing but it turns out these organisms have an immense

influence on our health with. welcome to tomorrow today the science show on d w. microbes are believed to colonize the human body millions of years ago it's been enlarged you can learn your symbiosis. the tiny creatures have their habitat and we profit from their activity they keep us healthy. and they are a huge number of them. it's said that out human cells put together would take up the space of half a leg the rest is microorganisms that make up micro biome. as a baby is born it encounters a whole lot of bacteria probably for the very 1st time in the birth canal or comes

in contact with virginal and got bacteria from its mother which then colonize the baby. they form a kind of protective shield and lay the groundwork for the development of the baby's own immune system. then we're off to a very calm when we're born our immune system is not yet fully formed and asked to learn over time to recognize disease cancer pathogens its atoms viruses and bacteria and fight them out there we've got micro biota plays an important part in this maturation process so that we can eventually recognized pathogens and attack them on a. biomedical research or stephanie going out on our blog byrne university hospital studies the impact of a mother's microbiota on the immune system of her child. in one investigation she demonstrated that what

a mother eats during pregnancy impacts the fetus that is her child before it's born . 'd signals from the mother's micro biota reach the fetus bio the placenta. influence the development of its immune system. 'd and with a voice then there is but one should choose one's feet wisely definitely not to vitamins a balanced diet and plenty of her right to think twice before eating that piece of chocolate or candy perhaps you can do without it so you know molly stop and think about what you want when you eat and how much you eat invasion make an effort. a young child's diet also has a big influence on its immune system the researcher is now investigating the development of children's micro biota during the 1st few years of their lives she visits her test subjects to take samples. it

was finn we want to find out how the baby less micro biome develops right after birth and over the course of the next 2 years we're especially interested in the role of breast milk and. whether it has any long term influence on the child's health and it's susceptibility to certain diseases unfit. diskin this. the mother provides a sample of her milk. marburg swabs the baby's arm to collect bacteria living on the skin. and takes a sample of feces from a diaper so she can identify the gut micro biota. family planning. the end their own from camden s child's diet in the 1st few years it's crucial that we know that what we eat influences our intestinal flora we now know that we've got flora develops over the 1st 2 or 3 years of life. we also now know that during that

period we can shape and change that micro biome. that can affect the long term composition of the micro biome and the health of the child because later in a child's life we no longer have the capacity to influence. the scientist says breast milk is the best option to feed a baby for the 1st few months but mothers who don't breastfeed their babies should also benefit from her research. i know that self-esteem they have back to we need to determine which bacteria are beneficial in early life and then develop ways to administer them to babies the time breast fed is probiotics. on the side condiment one can also imagine improving formula for bottle feeding. this research still has a long way to go but it's already clear that the tiny bacteria in and on our bodies play an outsized role in our health from the very start. and

that's a challenge to research because every human being has their own personal collection of my credit your micro biome is unique to you just like your fingerprint. we are not alone. each one of us is home to a vast population of other beings microbes in unimaginable numbers we host more microbes than we have cells 39 trillion at last count. mainly bacteria but also fun guy viruses and archaea representing thousands of different species together they sustain a complex ecosystem it's like a jungle in there and each person's jungle is custom made the trick is the next it has to be just right. within a family member's personal jungles look quite similar because microbes are always zipping back and forth. the variety of species is greatest in the gastro intestinal

tract if everything is ok we get along with our god to micro biota extremely well we need them and they need us some help with digestion others produce vitamins for our benefit. they conspire to neutralize pathogens and keep us healthy . but that's not all they also influence our brain and our mood they are absolutely indispensable we wouldn't be what we are without them in an average sized adult they went to whole kilograms. one of the studies on participating in micro biome research. scott kelly is an astronaut who has an identical twin brother studies that carried out on him and his brother to see how the micro biome responds to differing outside influences and

what could be more different than living in space so scott flew to the international space station his twin brother stayed on earth a subsequent comparison of their 2 micro biome still showed the ratio of some microbes had shifted slightly but the diversity remained the same but the micro biome is not the only interesting fact here in riyadh or from ghana wanted to know why some pregnancies result in twins. twins are 2 children of the same mother and father who were born and sure succession at the end of the same pregnancy. there are 2 kinds of twin categorized by how they are conceived when i psychotic and dies i gotter. got it means that one egg is fertilized by one sperm but divides into 2 embryos

early on. while developing in the uterus they share the same placenta. the resulting twins are genetically almost identical they're the same sex and look very very similar. their fingerprints are a bit different however. and i can have different moles or birth marks on the scan . twins are the result of 2 separate acts maturing at the same time and being fertilized by 2 separate speier each embryo here has its own placenta. these twins are genetically different and don't have to be the same sex but just regular siblings who happened to be born about the same time at the end of one pregnancy. one in 40 births fields twins about a 3rd of the twins a monozygotic and 2 thirds of dies i got it fertility treatments make multiple births more common with assisted reproductive technology multiple births often

result from the transfer of more than one embryo. some cultures used to think twins were frightening or a natural nazi doctors abused twins for cruel experiments. nowadays prejudices are less widespread if anything twins are considered fascinating. stop playing with each other in the womb and often brain close throughout their lives there's nothing unnatural about 20 even if they are pretty special. incidentally the number of stars that scott kelly could see from the eye assess was smaller than the number of microorganisms in his body. our digestive tracts contain more microbes then there are stars in the milky way. spock having spent one here in space his micro biome may have changed slightly because of the diets of freeze dried food consumed by astronauts what we eat directly affects the composition of

microorganisms in our intestine. without body draws from the food is determined by millions of nerve cells in the intestine this so-called brain in the guts can even affect our mood and thinking if the walls of our intestines were smooth on the inside they would have a surface area of just 1. 1 square meter but millions of finger like projections called vinaya increase the surface area for absorbing nutrients. intestinal flora play a vital role in our digestion then made up of billions of bacteria and fungus that can weigh up to 2 kilograms all together they train our defense systems over 70 percent of the body's immune cells are located in the gut so we need them any deficiency can lead to chronic intestinal disease. if worst comes to worst a stool transplant may be the only remedy it's a procedure that gastroenterologist steffen valve recur performs very rarely it's

not very appetising and it can be risky for the patient. but it's definitely not one of my favorite procedures it stinks and it's unpleasant as you'll see in something i do with only very few patients. and. a fecal microbiology transplant as it's also called is usually done only when other therapeutic options have failed the procedure itself is straightforward dr vereker takes feces from a healthy donor and say one solution and purees the mixture with a hand blender. 'd now it's ready to be administered. 'd we 1st have to screen our donors very carefully to find out whether they have hepatitis b. c. a or other relevant diseases they need to be ruled out before we can accept any stool and use it for transplantation. the diluted stool preparation

contains a wide range of gut bacteria from a healthy individual they are the key to restoring the patient's intestinal flora. that recurred delivers the fecal matter via colonoscopy. that part of the procedure is simple and in most cases the patient will be restored to health within days. 'd micro biota transplants are very high success rate with a positive effect in up to 96 percent of patients. and we're talking about people who are suffering from a severe inflammation of the colon and have been through countless treatments with antibiotics. only for to return later. and then suddenly they're healed it's a very impressive thing to. store transplants

are only recommended as a treatment for collide associated with the clostridium difficile e infection although there is some evidence that it can help with other inflammatory conditions. so. there is a risk of transferring diseases so i'd be very reluctant to transplant feces for any old problem it does make sense with this specific disease pseudo membrane as colossus under has a high success rate but for other conditions i would not use it indiscriminately. gut bacteria are shaking up medical science their role in health and disease is the subject of intense research. and pharma by a start up in zurich switzerland thomas developers and his team are developing an alternative to fecal transplants they use mixtures of intestinal bacteria to produce targeted therapies for a number of different diseases. if we want to package the kind of effect seen in

fecal transplants into medication to scale it up so it can be manufactured to ensure it's safe the aim is to give each patient the mixture that will help them the most. ready specific kinds of bacteria are extracted from human feces ready. this has to be done in an anaerobic chamber because most gut bacteria can survive when exposed to oxygen. these microbes can there be cultivated and eventually put together in various combinations to recreate healthy gut flora. but 1st the various species require a lot of cat if they are to flourish. the biggest headache is that the different bacteria need very different nutrients we've therefore developed a huge range of different growth media in order to cover the disparate needs of the

bacteria and then be able to cultivate them individually. it's called dave you're. ready the team studies the bio chemical roles played by different strains of bacteria in the in testing ready ready. they have developed a mixture of nearly a dozen strains that carry out the basic processes of the intestinal ecosystem a kind of minimal intestinal flora. they are also working on targeting specific diseases. first we want to look at chronic inflammatory bowel disease is because they've had the most research and where we've seen the most progress but we're also interested in secondary indications related to cancer but i in recent years we've seen that the gut micro biome has a really big influence on the success of cancer therapies. it sounds very promising packing cultured intestinal flora into pills for patients to pop.

even when we have a cut our micro biome plays a role in healing you just want to how well our body fixes itself with the help of microbes in the skin with the bleeding stops thanks to plate and the protein fiber and that seals that went through class. then macrophages eliminate dead cells and germs. cells begin to form inside the world and. then finally cells at the edge of the fire to form new skin or a skull. healthy micro biome promotes wound healing and a healthy micro biome develops under the influence of our diet.

itself and said you are what you eat so a very diet is good for intestinal bacteria because they are themselves diverse in nature and require various nutrients. we should keep that in mind when we choose the food we eat many food trends and diets supposedly designed to keep us bitten slim have turned out not to be so great after all fat for example was long thought to be unhealthy but is that true. to butter cheese and cream fatty foods are said to make you sick and overweight prompting many people to turn to so-called diet for royalties. but our such fear is well founded. in back in 1948 researchers in the u.s. set out to tackle the leading cause of death in the country heart attacks they recruited on initial 5000 are all subjects from the town of framingham for. what

would be the longest running multi-generational study in medical history. 9 years later the researchers published their 1st results the primary causes of heart attacks were high blood pressure smoking and excess weight i'm one major factor behind that weight gain was immediately apparent to the researchers americans eat on healthy food and too much of us. the subsequent war on fast was declared in other countries to west germany was also seeing a growing number of people dying from heart attacks the perils of fast foods was a story quickly picked up by the media on the food industry. the big. issue. in the us the low fat issue became an affair of state in 1980 a senator george mcgovern launched a program of national diet reform for the 1st time ever the authorities issued guidelines for healthier food habits what to eat and what not to. not

long afterwards the aerobics craze was unleashed on the world as people went to new extremes to fight the flop. i hope this will help me to get my fat cells on to control. but despite all the low fat foods and high intensity workouts the average ways of people of west germany on the united states just kept on rising during the 1970 s. . meanwhile the notion that fat makes you fat became the consensus view with the american heart association awarding a label of approval to low fat products. but dr robert atkins beg to differ peeper most of the fatty dies as opposed to one filled with low fat products which were often high in sugar. and it has steak and eggs and lobster and it's so easy to stay on. as the new millennium dawned the benefit of low fat foods came under growing scrutiny. we have

a weight problem i thought i'd try out diet products but they didn't help at school . in 2001 britain's highly respected cochrane institution took a new look at previous studies on low fat diets that research revealed only a minimal benefit in terms of life expectancy. 5 years later the defenders of proof arrived. in the study involving almost $50000.00 women showed no noteworthy reduction in heart attacks and strokes among the 50 percent eating low fat foods. so after decades of marketing campaigns in general was no longer public enemy number one. the war shifted to one of bad fats versus good fats such as those in vegetable oil. new guidelines in the u.s. not only warm consumers about saturated fatty acids and cholesterol. but further

studies have since shown that the cholesterol we get from food has a negligible effect on our blood cholesterol unlike the one our bodies produce. so for decades we've been told to maintain a low fat diet only to be subsequently told that in fact the research had never found any proof of the benefits. but supermarket shelves are still full of so-called diet products and with even the manufacturers running out of scientific arguments they've resorted to a more lighthearted approach even if still like some substance. susan foods enjoy a reputation as spring is of health og and oil hemp and linseed oil are talented as super feeds as are cranberries hazelnuts and beer very similar other. broccoli contains victims and minerals and substances that could help control blood sugar levels or even protect against cancer green tea is also said to be very beneficial to health but is that really the case.

green tea has a medicinal effect that's true that's because of the active ingredient that the gallo caddick and gallic the j c g it's a type of character and a natural oxidant that protects organs from damage. in traditional chinese medicine green tea is considered effective in preventing a range of diseases. and the effects of green tea have been scientifically proven. that's true to over the last 10 years basic research into has delivered highly promising results. there are hundreds of international studies on green and the research continues. but researchers don't always get the funding they need big pharma intends to expect profits when they invest in studies. and. so can

green to help prevent alzheimer's parkinson's cancer multiple sclerosis and other serious diseases. yes and no there is currently no medicinal product based on green tea that counters those conditions 'd it takes years to translate the results of research into safe medication and a process that also includes clinical tests with actual patients. the biggest challenge is administering e.g. c.g. and sufficiently high doses while ensuring that it reaches those parts of the body where it's needed in the brain for example. drinking rain to you can make sick people healthy. is that really the case well only if you believe reports by individual patients on an approved method and their symptoms. some bring

substantial amounts of green tea. over a long period of time while others took the active ingredient in pill form. but council these effects are not scientifically proven. so the more green tea you drink the better. that's relative. you can drink too much up to one and a half leaders a day is considered fine but it needs to be of the caffeine free variety otherwise you might find it hard to follow. the problem is read write are great even if you have to have a if you have a science question that's bothering you send it in as a video text ovoid. if we answer it on the show you look at a little surprise as a thank you. come on just ask. for more science stories check out our website d.w. dot com slash science or look for us on twitter.

that's all for this edition of tomorrow today thanks for joining us. we'll be back next week until wednesday healthy i don't stay curious.

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a pragmatist klaus deaton a minute. into hiding director of the get to institute. a tireless traveler dedicated to intercultural dialogue. the final year bidding farewell to a cultural ambassador march 21. and 30 minutes on d w. the fight against the corona virus pandemic. how has the rate of infection been developing. what measures are being taken. what does the latest research say. information and context.

the key. virus update the code special monday to friday on t.w. . in the far north. beyond the inhabitable world. it's lonely. barren. and breathtakingly beautiful the arctic our full expanse of bitter cold. and the sound of global warming. we take a journey around the north pole meet profiteers and talk with people experiencing the changing environment the ice disappears earlier and it keeps retreating the case here's the last years have been snow being rushed. makes it hard but.

our future depends on what happens here in one of the most fragile ecosystems on earth. northern lights within the arctic circle starts december 21st on w. . this is day w news and they threw out top stories. voting has ended in venezuela's parliamentary election boycotted by opposition latest polls is expected to tighten president nicolas maduro script on power by giving his party control of the national assembly at being the law.