Hello, and welcome to The Symbiont Factor blog! I will be writing about everything related to gut bacteria, symbiont organisms, probiotics, health and related issues. There will also be links to pertinent or interesting articles and posts by others, including recipes and nutritional concepts, plans and ideas to improve health through symbiont concepts.The inspiration and theme for this blog is derived from the upcoming book, The Symbiont Factor written by yours truly, Richard Matthews DC DACNB. This book will be available in the second quarter of 2014. It is very comprehensive in nature, delving into an assortment of human ailments to better understand what role symbiont health plays. All concepts presented are heavily referenced; there are over 1000 research references from National Library of Medicine/National Institutes of Health indexed peer-reviewed publications.
The concepts explored in The Symbiont Factor are:
1. Human beings are hosts to a colony of trillions of bacteria that are beneficial symbionts. Their cells outnumber ours by 10 to 1, and their genes outnumber ours by at least 100 to 1.
2. The Human immune, nervous, and endocrine (hormone) systems are dependent on these bacteria for normal development from birth, and dependent on them for normal function throughout life.
3. The human body is an ecosystem for these symbionts, and as such there exists a biologic competition between beneficial and harmful species. Any loss of biologic diversity or change in bacterial demographics can allow non-beneficial and harmful species to bloom.
4. Modern lifestyles, foods, drugs, radiation exposures and pollutants are extremely detrimental to beneficial symbionts.
5. Beneficial symbionts can be restored to normal levels and increased diversity through lifestyle and dietary change, fermented foods and probiotic supplementation.
6. Humans are so dependent upon this population of beneficial symbionts for normal physical, mental and emotional function that we should be considered Holbionts. A Holobiont is an organism that consists of a host plus all of its symbionts.
7. Our species may not be able to reach our full physical and mental potential without embracing the concepts of the Holobiont, symbionts and their importance to our function!
Please stay and make yourself at home! We are at an exciting time in science and health-every day there are more studies published and articles written demonstrating the nature of the relationship between humanity and the bacterial world. I hope you will stay and enjoy learning with me!
Richard Matthews DC DACNB
The Symbiont Factor Blog 