Giulia Enders

Bacteria are not the only possible cause of subclinical infections—hormone imbalances, too much estrogen, lack of vitamin D, or too much gluten-rich food have all been observed to have a similar effect.

Even more impenetrable than the meninges are the coats that surround all the blood vessels passing through the brain. The only things that can make it through this tangled mess are pure sugar, minerals, and anything that is as small and fat-soluble as a neural transmitter

What our bacteria prefer is food that reaches the large intestine undigested, where they can then gobble it up.

But what do bile salts have to do with cholesterol? The answer is in the name. Cholesterol comes from the Greek words chole (bile) and stereos (solid). Cholesterol was first discovered in gall stones. Bile, which is stored in the gall bladder, is the body’s transport medium for fats and cholesterol. BSH allows bacteria to alter bile to make it work less efficiently. The cholesterol and fat dissolved in bile can then no longer be absorbed by the body and they end up, to put it bluntly, down the toilet.

Most cholesterol is produced in the liver and the gut, where tiny messenger substances manufactured by the bacteria can partly control those processes

it weren’t for cholesterol, we would have unstable cells and no sex hormones or vitamin D

Bacteria help to feed us, make some foods more digestible, and produce their own substances.

Once inside the bird’s gut, the Salmonellae can multiply, and they are eventually excreted. Since chickens have only one hole for all export goods, the egg cannot avoid coming into contact with Salmonellae in the bird’s feces. The bacteria are then found only on the shells of eggs—they only get inside when the shell is cracked

In a slaughterhouse dispatching 200,000 birds a day, one batch of cheap-feed chickens is enough to give the gift of Salmonella to all the other birds in the bath.

Even just ten minutes’ exposure to a temperature of 167 degrees Fahrenheit (75 degrees Celsius) is enough to see off all Salmonella bacteria. That’s why a carefully roasted chicken is not usually the culprit, but rather the lettuce leaves for the side salad, left to soak briefly in the same kitchen sink.