What Your Microbiome Really Needs Is Fiber, Not Kombucha
Some microbes reside permanently in our guts. Others are just passing through.
In recent years, we’ve begun to learn that most everything we eat — from probiotic yogurt to a serving of asparagus to a fatty pork chop — has an effect on the microbes that live in our bodies, which, in turn, have an effect on us. And rapidly. What you eat for one meal can change your microbiome composition within 24 hours. Not only that, but it is also becoming clear that these microbes, in turn, play a key role in translating our diet to health outcomes — good and bad. But in many cases, our focus on which foods to eat to benefit the microbiome has been misplaced.
When it comes to our biomes, we can break microbes into two key categories: those that live permanently in the human gut and those that are just passing through. It is simplistic and not exactly how the microbes would see it, but it is a key distinction that is too often left out of conversations about our gut microbiota — especially as it relates to food. And it is one that leads to a lot of confusion about just what we should do with all the new information we’re gleaning about our important inhabitants.
This difference is usually glossed over or omitted entirely amid the surging enthusiasm for live…
