Biohacking, which is also called “Do-It-Yourself Biology”, is a term that refers to using cutting edge science, products and technologies that enable an individual to optimize his or her personal biology. More and more people are using this as strategy to improve overall health.
The Genome Complexity Conundrum
When scientists successfully sequenced the human genome, they discovered that humans have about 23,000 genes. However, the common rice plant (Oryza sativa) has about 45,000 genes. This led scientists to scratch their heads and think, “If we humans are as complex and evolved as we think we are, how can it be that we function with only have half as many genes as the common rice plant”? This puzzle become known as the Genome Complexity Conundrum.
The answer began to emerge when scientists discovered that the intestinal tract of most humans is home to an estimated 100 trillion bacteria. Humans have from 500-1,000 different species of intestinal bacteria which are estimated to contain over nine million genes. Therefore, your intestinal bacteria contain approximately 400 times more genes than number of genes in our human DNA. Humans can “get by” with only 23,000 genes because bacteria, with the DNA in their millions of genes, direct and regulate a great deal of the functioning of the human body.
Biohacking with Postbiotic Metabolites
An explosion of on-going research into the human microbiome has confirmed that the gut microbiome is a critical factor in so many aspects of human biology and overall health. Poor gut health or an imbalance in the gut microbiome is associated with numerous chronic diseases. However, biohacking your way to a healthier microbiome can result in better health and increased longevity. This explains why it is so critically important for people to learn how to create and maintain a healthy microbiome.
Postbiotic Metabolites: The New Frontier in Microbiome Science
In order to biohack your microbiome, it is critical to understand how probiotics and your gastrointestinal ecosystem function. For decades, we have known that probiotic bacteria play important roles in the regulation of health. However, until recently, the mechanisms that explain how probiotic bacteria regulate so many aspects of human health have remained elusive.
Dietary fiber is the primary “food” for your probiotic bacteria. Recently, scientists have been discovering that the primary “job” of probiotic bacteria is to ferment these fibers, which results in the production of health-regulating compounds referred to as “postbiotic metabolites.”
Various classes of postbiotic metabolites provide health benefits such as reducing inflammation, directly killing pathogens, reestablishing optimal acid/base balance, regulating digestion and absorption, improving gut-brain communication, synthesizing vitamins and amino acids and enhancing immune function.
Postbiotic metabolites are a very exciting new frontier in microbiome science that will likely have a significant impact on both health and medicine in the future.
Dr. Ohhira’s Probiotics: A Fermented Food with Prebiotics, Probiotics and Postbiotics
Fermented foods contain various species of live bacteria and bioactive metabolites, which provide health benefits to consumers. Dr. Ohhira’s Probiotics is a product that is produced in a unique 3-year fermentation production process.
How Are Postbiotics Made?
A wide range of organically grown fiber-rich foods are added to large fermentation vats along with twelve starter strains of probiotic bacteria. During the fermentation process, the probiotic bacteria convert the food fibers into a wide range of postbiotics.
At the end of three years, Dr. Ohhira’s Probiotics contain live probiotic bacteria, prebiotics and over 500 bioactive, health-promoting postbiotics. Dr. Ohhira’s Probiotics is the world leader in directly supplying postbiotic metabolites, which work to maintain a healthy microbiome and promote overall health.
Why Choose Postbiotics?
Most commercial probiotic products just contain bacteria. In order to be effective, those bacteria must survive transit through the harsh acidic environment in the stomach. Then, when they arrive in the small intestine, they must locate fiber-rich foods and begin the process of converting dietary fibers into postbiotic metabolites. This process takes time and most people are not consuming diverse, fiber-rich diets.
Using a product that contains ready-made postbiotics together with live, active probiotics and wholesome dietary fiber – as in Dr. Ohhira’s Probiotics -- is a fast and effective way to biohack your microbiome and improve the gastrointestinal ecosystem.
