The microbiome is so complicated, that unfortunately there is really no "resetting" it. We can try (with fecal microbiome transplants), but in reality once it gets perturbed we can only hope that it returns to something close to normal. You've spent your whole life carefully cultivating this little ecosystem in your gut, if something comes along and wipes it out you have to start over.
It does make me wonder if we should be trying to store our own microbiomes when we get annual physicals so that if something happens during the year we can "reboot" the microbiome with a relatively recent batch.
gamma9997 t1_iumk6l9 wrote
Reply to comment by Vosje11 in Gut-dwelling bacterium singled out as the possible cause of colorectal cancer by Logibenq
The microbiome is so complicated, that unfortunately there is really no "resetting" it. We can try (with fecal microbiome transplants), but in reality once it gets perturbed we can only hope that it returns to something close to normal. You've spent your whole life carefully cultivating this little ecosystem in your gut, if something comes along and wipes it out you have to start over.
It does make me wonder if we should be trying to store our own microbiomes when we get annual physicals so that if something happens during the year we can "reboot" the microbiome with a relatively recent batch.