Since the end of the Second World War, along with the growing prosperity and the associated changes in lifestyle, numerous new and civilisation-related disease patterns have developed in today's industrialised nations. Examples of the so-called "environmental diseases" are different bowel diseases like Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. Common causes include disruptions to the human microbiome, i.e. the natural microbial colonisation of the body, and in particular of the intestine. To date, scientists have explained this disrupted cooperation between host body and microbes with different hypotheses: for example, they postulated that excessive hygiene, the intensive use of antibiotics, or certain genetic factors permanently disrupt the microbiome, thus making people vulnerable to illnesses. However, these explanatory attempts have so far been incomplete.
* This article was originally published here
