You hear the term everywhere at the moment: ‘Microbiome’. It’s very popular with advertisers, so you may be wondering what it is. Is it something real or a fancy marketing term? Is it good? Is it bad? What does it do?

Time to get some clarity on it, as, yes it is real, and because it has a major impact on your endometriosis.

In the most simple terms: microbiome is the combination of all bacteria. Bacteria on you (your skin) and in you (your gut).

We used to think bacteria were all bad, and getting rid of them from within us, on us and around us was a good thing to do.

Now we know that we are host to trillions of bacteria and that without them we wouldn’t survive!

For example, you have a microbiome on your skin. These bacteria play a key role in making sure that dangerous particles (all around us) can’t enter your skin.

You also have a microbiome in your gut; a balance of bacteria that are essential for digestion, your immune system and even emotions.

For Endometriosis, we are mostly interested in your gut microbiome and the microbiome in your pelvic cavity.

Each microbiome consists of good bacteria – the ones that help keep our body systems working well and keep us healthy – and bad bacteria – the ones that cause problems.

The reason we want to look at your gut microbiome is that we know the women with endometriosis have an altered microbiome: for some reason they have more bad bacteria.

Another reason to look at the microbiome is that nutrition is a powerful way to alter your gut microbiome.

Did you know that gut bacteria feed on what you eat?

Bad bacteria feed on different foods than good bacteria. Which is great, because by eating more of the foods that good bacteria like you can increase the number of good bacteria in your gut. And by eating less of the foods that bad bacteria need you can starve them.

Here is a good introductory video about the human microbiome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DTrENdWvvM

In next week’s post I will go into more detail on the bacteria that make up the microbiome in women with endometriosis.

If you have any questions about what the microbiome is, post them below!