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Microbiome videos may be most confusing health topic on the internet
A popular doctor shared his views on microbiomes and how who you hang out with could impact them, sparking a flurry of confusion online.
The doctor has gone viral after explaining why he believes hanging out with healthy people could make you healthier. Its why he says he doesnt wear gloves when working with especially healthy patients.�
Dr. Sean OMara recently appeared on The Genius Life podcast where he suggested that hanging out with healthy people could have health benefits. Likewise, he suggested that hanging out with unhealthy people, or their environments, could lead you to acquire unhealthy microbes.
Apparent warning to avoid certain places�for your health
Dr OMara focused his discussion on the microbiome. Harvard reports that the microbiome consists of microbes that are both helpful and potentially harmful. Most are symbiotic (where both the human body and microbiota benefit) and some, in smaller numbers, are pathogenic (promoting disease).
Harvard reports that in a healthy body, both symbiotic and pathogenic microbiota coexist without causing issues.
But if there is a disturbance in that balancebrought on by infectious illnesses, certain diets, or the prolonged use of antibiotics or other bacteria-destroying medicationsdysbiosis occurs, stopping these normal interactions. As a result, the body may become more susceptible to disease. �
On the podcast, Dr OMara shared that he goes as far as avoiding certain places and objects that he believes may have hosted people with unhealthy microbiomes.
I tell my kids and I tell my clients: Never sit in those four-foot-wide wheelchairs that are in airports. There are a lot of bad ones in there, he claimed.
Instead, he recommends people go out of their way to spend time with individuals likely to have positive microbes.�
What you wanna do, is maybe be the towel boy for the US Olympic ski team or gymnastics team or soccer team and get their good microbes because theyll be higher performers, he said.
The host of the podcast summarized the views, saying: If you see people who clearly embody good health, spend more time around them.
Dr. OMara says he only uses gloves on unhealthy patients
Later in the podcast, Dr. OMara shared how he even practices this method during his work, claiming to only use gloves on patients he deems to have a bad microbiome.
As a physician, I will wear gloves on unhealthy people, and for healthy people that have good microbes, I wont wear gloves. So Im actually benefiting myself, he detailed.
You want to hang out with healthy people, youre more attracted to them because they will have a higher collection of more effective microbiomes. But if theyre really healthy, you want them. It’s the same thing with people that are unhealthy, you can also acquire their FMTs.
What the studies say
Its no surprise that such claims have gone viral and ultimately left people even more confused. The transmission of microbes is a field of study that reportedly has very limited knowledge. Its important to note that, despite studies finding that microbial profiles can be altered by significant exchanges of bacteria with other people, those studies often only look at transmissions between people you are in regular and close contact with.
In 2017, a study found that couples who live together transmit microbes but not enough to alter one anothers microbial profile significantly. Another study found that those who live in the same household alter one anothers gut microbiomes, while those who have social interactions (ie: living in the same village) do so to a lesser extent.
A study in 2016 found that sociable people tend to have more diverse gut microbiomes due to transmitting good bacteria between one another.
There are studies, however, that look into the microbiomes on built spaces, like airplane cabins or subway seats. Those studies found that people do likely alter these microbiomes of physical spaces through transmission from their own.�
