sci-fi author, beatmaker

Tag: gut bacteria

40 Days Without Booze

Make mine a virgin.

Make mine a virgin.

Recently, as a “kick-in-the-butt” motivator, I promised myself that I would abstain from alcoholic beverages until I finished the first draft of a novel I’ve been working on. I had set a target date for completing the project (June 30th), with the idea that if I didn’t finish by that date, I’d stop drinking booze until I was done. I didn’t think of it as “punishment” so much; rather a modest motivational booster to propel me towards my goal. I enjoy drinking — especially wine — and I knew that going without would help me stay focused.

Well, June 30th came and went with no completed first draft in sight. No problem — it would only take a few more days to finish — soon I would be popping a cork and savoring my first glass.

I did finally finish the first draft of my sci-fi novel … on August 10th. Forty days with no booze. Here’s what it felt like:

All Your Guts Are Belong To Us (What's Your Enterotype?)

Your intestines circa 1900.

A recent study published in Nature and noted in the New York Times has discovered the intestinal ecosystems of human beings fall into distinct types.  While we all host many different varieties of bacteria, our guts are apparently dominated by one particular type, or family, of microbes, while other varieties are less abundant.

For example, what the study calls Enterotype 1 consists primarily of Bacteroides, while Enterotype 2 hosts high levels of bacteria from the genus Prevotella.

Different bacteria “do” different things in the intestines.  For example, the Type 2 bacteria synthesize enzymes that produce vitamin B1 (thiamine).  Type 1 synthesizes enzymes that produce vitamin B7 (biotin).  I would speculate that other vitamins that are synthesized in the gut, such as vitamin K2, are also produced at differing rates by different enterotypes.

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