This is a type of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) that can affect any part of the digestive system, from the mouth to the back passage, although it mostly occurs in the last section of the small intestine, the ileum, or
Also called dysbacteriosis, it refers to an imbalance of microbial colonies, either in number or type, that have colonized the human body. This is most common in the digestive tract, but it can happen in any exposed surface or mucous
The microbial community living in our gut is a unique combination of different types and amounts of bacteria. It is not a permanent bacterial mix, but an evolving one that can be affected by our diet, environmental factors, medicinal treatments,
A species of bacteria (from the family Enterobacteraceae) that normally lives in the guts of people and animals. Most E. coli strains are harmless and play an essential role in keeping the digestive system healthy, helping to digest food and
Also known as faecal transplant or stool transplant, this term refers to the process of transplantation of faecal samples (with its bacteria and metabolites) from a healthy individual into a person with an unbalanced microbiota. Although this procedure has been
Fermentation is a chemical process by which an organism converts sugars and carbohydrates present in food into an acid or an alcohol. Humans have used it for centuries to turn raw materials into assimilable final products, in food such as
This was the name previously given to the bacterial communities inhabiting our intestines. Researchers now prefer the term gut microbiota, as bacteria do not belong to the vegetable world. Some scientists also use one term or the other depending on
This is the name given to the community of microorganisms inhabiting the length and breadth of the mammalian gastrointestinal tract. The composition of this microbial community is host specific. Each individual’s gut microbiota can undergo endogenous and exogenous alterations. It
Human Microbiome Project. Launched in 2008, it was a five-year US National Institutes of Health (NIH) project that had the aim of identifying and characterising microbial communities found at multiple human body cavities and looking for correlations between changes in
