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CommentToBeDeleted t1_isssoew wrote

Reply to comment by Petal_Chatoyance in How is the human gut microbiome established in infancy or earlier on? by molllymaybe

>Gut bacteria are crawling all over the anal/genital region all the time, as well.

Serious question... for those of us who frequently go down on our partner, do we have a healthier gut biome (or at least one that more closely resembles our partners)?

You know asking for a friend of course...

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NeoKnife t1_issye8s wrote

I remember reading somewhere that spouses tend to have a similar gut microbione.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-37298-9

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bakersmt t1_ist55s8 wrote

I think that may be due to prolonged exposure. Because our bodies attempt to attain homeostasis constantly, our bugs will naturally get rid of a small introduction to something foreign. But if it's a constant input of something foreign it attempts to reach an equilibrium without having to constantly rid itself of foreign bugs.

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Alpacaofvengeance t1_isstubh wrote

Short answer - no. Your individual gut biome 'signature' is established in early childhood and as long as you are healthy it doesn't vary much regardless of where you stick your tongue.

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Chambana_Raptor t1_isswode wrote

Source?

At face value, this implies that probiotics are useless.

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MotherHolle t1_issyhxx wrote

Proof of the efficacy of probiotics is pretty mixed. There's only marginal evidence they might be beneficial when taking antibiotics. Many of the bacteria in probiotics fail to establish in the gut. Fecal transplants, on the other hand, show a lot of effectiveness.

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somirion t1_it1ufm1 wrote

Probiotics are not used to establish a healthy flora, but a flora, that wont hurt you.
If there is nothing and intensines are free for colonization you are asking yeast or different bacteria like clostridium to take a hold there.

If it is colonized already, this is harder.

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Alpacaofvengeance t1_ist0h56 wrote

Probiotics may have some moderate benefit if your gut microbiome has been peturbed e.g. you are taking antibiotcs or you've has diarrhea. But if you're healthy then there's not a lot of confirmed benefits.

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PhilosopherDon0001 t1_istaoky wrote

Probiotics aren't entirely useless. However, if you look there are usually only a couple of type of bacteria in them.

There are hundreds, if not more, different type of bacteria in your gut.

It's not harmful, but unless you've been on some hardcore antibiotics , it's not that helpful either.

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bogeuh t1_isszmh6 wrote

Yeh, its more like it doesn’t change because you already have the same microbiome as your partner.

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uniab t1_isun72m wrote

That’s not true at all…

Antibiotics are a great example, they kill of a huge amount of bacteria a leave behind a micro biome with significantly less diversity. Then through eating some new bacteria can colonize.

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allminorchords t1_isvblqn wrote

In peritoneal dialysis, it is common practice in my region to have patients taking any oral/IV/IP abx to take probiotics to prevent colonization of yeast in the peritoneal cavity.

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somirion t1_it1u9ei wrote

It should be common everywhere.

Add also clostridium difficile, usually older patients.

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danja t1_isvn3bv wrote

Nah. That doesn't make any sense Why should the first things in your gut be the best?

A course of antibiotics will hammer the bacteria, a different set will surely grow back. Over the course of, call it a year, you have to encounter critters that're better suited than the last lot.

Also, faecal transplants.

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sciguy52 t1_isvuoer wrote

Not likely. Your gut microbe actively defend their "territory" in the gut. They are not going to give up such valuable real estate without a fight. This is called microbial antagonism. So you may ingest all sorts of bacteria be it sex or just eating, if you are healthy you already have microbes in place and whatever you are ingesting basically can't easily take hold because of this. Not saying it can't happen at all, it is just that the microbes are not just "passively" there, they are there and intend to stay. That involves various biological processes they use to make sure they do. One is to simply take up all the real estate so something coming through has no space to colonize.

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manofredgables t1_iswrd3s wrote

Our stomach invests quiet a lot of effort into killing any living cells that enter it. Very little will survive to the gut. Infants are likely to have a pretty weak line of defense.

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