What are microbiata, and why are they important?

When I say microbiota, these are the bacteria, viruses, fungi and all the critters that live in our gastrointestinal tract and everywhere: in the eyes, ears, brain, mouth and our skin. The microbiota teach and train the immune system so it is critical. We are still in our infancy in truly understanding the gut, but we are now convinced at how important it is. The microbiota all over our bodies and particularly in the gut seem to control anywhere from 95 to 99 percent of the function so what we think about genes and all this stuff is a small fraction of what’s really controlled. The microbiota directly communicate to the brain. Depression, anxiety and all of these things that are involved with neurotransmitters are very linked to the gut. Most of the serotonin is produced in the gut. We know that there’s other signals that go directly to the gut via the vagus nerve and other methods. There’s a strong correlation, but also direct causal relationship between what’s happening in the gut, our overall health and particularly our brain health.