Each of us has around 100,000 billion live bacteria living in our intestines. These are referred to collectively as the gut microbiome, the gut microbiota or sometimes the gut microflora.
This gut microbiome forms part of the overall human body microbiome, which is made up of all the billions of bacteria that live with us throughout our bodies – both the commensal (good) bacteria and the potentially opportunist bacteria.
We each have our own unique microbiome, which is established at birth and through the first few years of life and then lives with us throughout our life. And research is continuously demonstrating the importance of this microbiome (particularly the gut microbiome) in supporting our health and resilience.