For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s Health Issues page.

Your body’s microbiome-colonies of various microbes that reside in your gut and elsewhere in and on your body-is as unique to you as your fingerprint.

It varies from person to person based on factors such as diet, lifestyle, health history, geographic location, and even ancestry. Your microbiome is in fact one of the most complex ecosystems on the planet.

In terms of ratios, your bacteria outnumber your body’s cells by 10 to 1, and viruses outnumber bacteria 10 to 1! So not only is your body the home of 100 trillion bacteria, you also house about one quadrillion viruses (bacteriophages).

All of these organisms perform a multitude of functions in key biological systems, and need to be properly balanced and cared for in order to maintain good health.

For example, your gut bacteria influence your immune responses, nervous system functioning, and play a role in the development of any number of diseases, including food allergies, as demonstrated by recent research.

Allergies are on the Rise Across the Western World

Food allergies affect some 15 million Americans, including one in 13 children. Disturbing statistics also point out that potentially deadly food allergies are on the rise. For example, between 1997 and 2011 alone, food allergies in children rose by 50 percent!

Inner-city kids are at greatest risk. In one study,1 10 percent of children raised in large cities developed a food allergy before the age of five. Twenty-nine percent developed food sensitivity. The most common food allergy was peanuts (6 percent), followed by eggs (4.3 percent), and pasteurized milk (2.7 percent).

City dwellers also have a heightened risk of asthma and other environmental allergies. Similarly, in Great Britain one in three people is allergic to something, be it pollen, dust mites, or food.2

Previous research has drawn parallels between the rise in allergies and increased antibiotic and antimicrobial use. According to British researchers,3 exposure to antibiotics early in life may increase your child’s risk of developing eczema by 40 percent.