How do you cultivate the right forms of life in your gut zoo?

Wouldn’t it be great if we could modify our microbiomes and tap into these genes to improve health?

The sum of the microbes on and inside our body is called the microbiome. The microbiome is a microbial zoo that includes bacteria, fungi, parasites and, yes, even viruses (that mainly feed on gut bacteria). In recent years, there has been intense focus on the microbes inside the gut and how they affect human health. Though they’re tiny, there are more microbial cells inside the human body than human cells.

The type and number of these gut microbes vary from person to person and at different times in a person’s life. And while the genetic material we inherit from our …