Not only microbiota, but also mycobiota: in fact there are not only colonies of bacteria but also of fungi in the intestines of humans and animals. Just like intestinal bacteria, fungi can play a beneficial role or, on the contrary, trigger disturbances if in excess. In fact, let’s think about candida.

According to new studies in mice, fungi in the gut could be our permanent hosts, and be susceptible to lifestyle and dietary changes.
We still don’t know how our “mycobiota” works.

So far, studies on intestinal fungi have in fact focused on disorders related to an excessive proliferation of certain fungi, while today we know a lot about intestinal bacteria.

Just think of all intestinal diets, research on good bacteria, the link between bacteria and immune defenses, and even the language of bacteria. Little is known about the fungi that populate our intestines for now, and what research does know is limited to studies on guinea pigs.

WHAT IS THE MYCOBIOT AND HOW IT IS BINDED TO THE DIET

But we also begin to know something about fungi in the intestine.
In fact, a new study has found that dietary variations modify fungal diversity at the gut level.

Exactly as with bacteria: the latter which explains why probiotics can be ineffective . Not only can probiotics be neutralized by gastric juices, but it has been found that many people do not have certain families of bacteria.
This scarce variety, both in the case of fungi and in the case of bacteria, is a consequence of the diet.

Think for example that Homo Sapiens and Neanderthalensis had very similar bacterial flora. In both cases, it also varies, a consequence of the ability to change habitat and expand one’s diet with omnivorousness and both raw and cooked foods.

Today our diet has changed dramatically. We experiment little, we eat a diet low in fiber and nutrients, a diet that is not very varied and often rich in unhealthy food.

According to the scientists, the result of the lack of variety in the modern Western diet and low-nutrient foods has been to reduce the diversity of both bacteria and fungi. Our roommates since birth, they now live in less numerous colonies than in the past.
If we already know what the bad consequences of a low intestinal bacterial variety are (risk of metabolic syndrome, reduction of immune defenses), it may be that science will soon shed light on what the reduction of intestinal fungal variety means for health.