Why should I care about the role of fungi in digestive health?
Up until about a decade ago, the scientific community studied microorganisms (like bacteria and fungi) as being completely independent of each other, and mostly from the perspective that they negatively impacted our health and wellness.
In the last few years, researchers have come to realize that microorganisms can play an extremely positive role in health and wellness, hence the emergence of probiotics.
However, one of the most important discoveries has been the relationship between bacteria and fungi in our bodies. Specifically, scientists have found that when one is impacted, it has an effect on the other. This indicates that there is a strong symbiotic relationship between bacteria and fungi, and that they essentially keep each other in check.
The understanding of bacteria and fungi's relationship took a giant step forward, when Dr. Ghannoum's research unearthed the fact that bacteria and fungi actually work together to protect each other, through forming digestive plaque.
THE RESULT? In order to support overall digestive health, we now understand that you have to address both bacteria and fungi.