Several factors can alter the presence, concentration, distribution and type of bacteria that inhabit our intestine. Situations such as malnutrition or unbalanced nutrition, antibiotic consumption or stress can lead to an imbalanced flora situation known as dysbiosis that facilitates the onset of diseases.
On the left an intestinal mucosa with proper bacterial flora and on the right an intestinal mucosa suffering dysbiosis.
Both, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), recognize that the alteration of the intestinal flora leads to the occurrence of diseases that are directly related to the gut, but also diseases or conditions indirectly related to it:
Directly related to the Intestine:
• Diarrhoea
• Antibiotic associated diarrhoea
• Traveler’s diarrhoea
• Infantile diarrhoea (rotavirus)
• Diarrhoea caused by food pathogens
• Constipation
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
• Intestinal inflammation
• Helicobacter pylori infection
Indirectly related to the Intestine:
• Allergy
• Cancer
• Cardiovascular disease
• Urinary tract infections
• Bacterial vaginosis
• Autism
• Hepatic cirrhosis
• Migraine
• Depression
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