Where do the bacteria in our intestines (microflora) come from?

http://www.all-creatures.org/health/beneficial.html


Before birth the gastrointestinal tract of a normal fetus is sterile. During the birth process the newborn is inoculated, by passage through the birth canal, with organisms from the mother’s vagina and bowel.

Benefits to the infant begin immediately with this natural defense barrier of “friendly” bacteria standing against harmful microbes that will enter later on with touching, suckling, kissing, and caressing. The importance of this early invasion should not be underestimated. This initial invasion makes a permanent impression on our immune systems, thereby affecting a person’s well-being throughout his or her life.

Newborns delivered by cesarean section do not get a healthy dose of mother’s bacteria. Born through the abdomen, much of their initial bacteria come from the unhygienic environment of a hospital. However, this setback can be remedied by the initiation of proper infant feeding after birth – and helped by the addition of infant probiotics (see below).

Breast feeding encourages the growth of “friendly” bacteria known as Bifidobacterium. These vital organisms protect the baby from gastrointestinal infections that can result in illnesses severe enough to require hospitalization, and sometimes cause death. Mother’s milk contains sugars (galacto-oligosaccharides) which encourage the growth of these friendly bacteria. By the fourth day of life, Bifidobacterium represent 48% of the bacteria in breast-fed infants as opposed to 15% in bottle-fed infants.4 Eventually, over 95% of the bacteria become Bifidobacterium bacteria in an exclusively breast-fed baby. Introduction of small amounts of formula to a breast-fed baby will result in shifts from a breast-fed to a formula-fed pattern of the microflora. After weaning from breast milk – ideally after the age of 2 years – the child’s flora become similar to an adult’s.

Change the Diet – Change the Microflora

The partially digested remnants of our meals, after arrival in our large intestines, become the foods for our microflora. Each species of bacteria survives best on specific kinds of nutrients. In short, “friendly” bacteria prefer to dine on plant-food remnants, and pathogens thrive when the diet is low in plant foods and high in meat and other “junk-food.” Therefore, what we choose to eat determines the predominance of the bacteria species that will live in our gut. By changing from a diet based on animal- and highly processed-foods to whole plant-foods, you can suppress the growth of harmful bacteria and stimulate those that are beneficial. Major alterations in the microflora take place within one to two weeks of changing a person’s diet.