Bacteria Busy Maintaining Your Good Health

Psalm 22:26
“The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.”

Scientists are beginning to get a better picture of how digestion works and have identified 500 to 1,000 different kinds of bacteria that live in our large intestine. The human body actually works in a symbiotic relationship with these bacteria – we are their host and provide them with a warm environment while they work to benefit us, including digestion of our food.

These bacteria carry out many jobs. Some protect our digestive system from bad bacteria. Others specialize in helping to break down food. One of the most common bacterium breaks indigestible complex carbohydrates down into easily digested sugars. It also produces vitamins and other nutrients our body can absorb. Researchers now believe that this busy bacterium also turns-on some of our genes, so that more blood is able to absorb food. Laboratory mice bred to be germ-free must eat 30 percent more food than regular mice because they lack this bacterium. What’s more, when there is little sugar to work with, the bacteria prompts intestinal cells to make sugar. Yet another bacterium makes proteins that manage sugar production.

Scientists now believe that most bacteria benefit us. They are part of God’s creation, designed for the good of the creation. God always has our good in mind, our greatest good being our salvation that He has prepared for us in Jesus Christ.

Prayer:
I thank You for Your love, Father, and ask that You would bring me health, both physically and spiritually. Amen.

Notes:
Science News, 5/31/03, pp. 344-345, John Travis, “Gut Check.”