Bacteria: enemies or friends?

Imagine a world without bacteria. It may seem ideal at first. But the more we think it, the more we realise that we cannot live without them.

Germs and other micro-organisms are so much seen as our enemies that we do our best to destroy them. We develop powerful antibiotics; we kill them with chemicals, radiation and other means.

So far, we have not succeeded. But imagine what would happen if we did…

There would be no food poisoning, no diarrhea, no coughs and colds, no sore throats, no tuberculosis, no cholera, no small pox, no polio, no sexually transmitted diseases... There would be no decay. Foods will not get spoilt and so we won’t need preservatives, refrigeration and wasteful packaging. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

Graveyard

Wait a minute! No decay?

What happens, then to all the plants, animals and people that die? They would be preserving forever. This whole world would then be filled with dead bodies that have piled up over millions of years. We would be living in a giant graveyard. There would not be enough room for the living.

Sorry, we cannot live in a world without decay.

We need decay to break down all the dead animals and plants into basic substances that return to the soil, so that they provide nutrients for new plants to grow. Otherwise, plants won’t grow. There would not be any food for animals, nothing for us either.

We, too, need decay to break our food down so that nutrients can be absorbed by the body. We tend to think that digestion takes place in the stomach, with the help of acids. That’s only a small part of the process, since food stays in the stomach for only three to five hours. For the next 20 to 80 hours, digestion continues in the intestines where food is broken down – decayed – by bacteria. Without bacteria, we cannot digest food.

Fermented foods are actually partially “rotten” foods. Yet such foods are eaten and enjoyed by people all over the world. They include: bread, cheese and yogurt, wine, beer and other alcoholic drinks, miso, soy sauce, tempeh and pickles.

Logically, fermented, partially rotten foods should be harmful. But far from it. Such foods are widely regarded as “health foods”. They are easy to digest. For example, many people have difficulty digesting cow’s milk. But they have no difficulty digesting cheese or yoghurt.

Similarly, soy beans are among the most difficult beans to digest. Yet fermented soy bean products, like miso, soy sauce, tempeh and natto, are very easy to digest.

Lactic acids formed during natural fermentation also help us to digest other foods. And, fermented foods are an important source of vitamin B12 – a very rare vitamin which we need for, among other things, healthy blood and a properly functioning nervous system. It also builds immunity.

Vitamin B12 is found mainly in meat, eggs, fish and other animal foods. So vegetarians are often warned that they may suffer from vitamin B12 deficiency. Vegetarians who are not too fussy about hygiene, however, need not worry. Because vitamin B12 is produced by bacteria. If your food is teeming with germs, chances are it is rich this rare vitamin.

We need germs. In fact, it can even be argued that theey form an essential part of our daily “food”. We need to eat, drink and breathe in bacteria. We need to constantly introduce these micro-organisms into our body.

(2007 Update: I learnt recently that the human body actually contains more bacteria cells than human cells. Our guts alone is estimated to have 100 trillion (1 followed by 14 zero's) bacteria. This is about 10 times more than the number of human cells in our body!)

This is the best way to build our immunity – have many different types of germs in our body. When traveling, for example, we can protect ourselves against food poisoning a new country by eating local yoghurt or other fermented foods. It works in two ways.

First, every time your body fights new germs, it develops antibodies. It learns how to handle these new organisms. So the next time this same germ enters your body, your immune cells will know exactly what to do.

Second, different types of germs keep each other in check. When there are many types of germs in your body, it is difficult for any one type to flourish and get out of hand. In this sense, all bacteria are “good”. They live together inside us and prevent any one type from multiplying faster than the rest.

This is why antibiotics are so harmful. When you take antibiotics, all or most of the bacteria in your body get destroyed. Then when new organisms enter, they multiply easily. In a healthy human body, friendly-bacteria out number the nasty ones (that are associated with diseases) by at least 5 to one. When we take antibiotics, we end up destroying more good than bad.

Co-workers

By itself, the immune system can only do so much to protect the body against harmful micro-organisms. Bacteria works together with the body’s immune cells. They are truly allies of the immune system.

(2007 Update: There is increasing recognition of this and probiotics, or friendly bacteria are now gaining popularity as food supplements.)

So don’t carry out an all out war against bacteria. Don’t try to live in an ultra clean environment. Don’t wash your hands all the time, don’t wash vegetables until little vitamins are left, don’t spray your entire house with disinfectants; don’t be afraid of dirt…

Many modern parents won’t allow their children to touch the soil or grass. Yet they freely let their child to play all day on a synthetic carpet, or in a plastic tent, which gives out toxic fumes. They won’t let their children eat anything that drops on the floor or is not washed. Yet they happily feed them canned and packaged foods containing lots of harmful chemical additives.

Let’s get our perspective right. Sure, we may fall sick if we are exposed to too much bacteria. But a few germs here and there would not harm us, but would do us much good instead.

Let’s not be so obsessed about hygiene that we forget about health.