Dr. Giulia Enders

And this happens also on the skin where there's bacteria and microbes that will produce antibiotics that will then fight other bacteria trying to get into their space.

So this is what I mean by clock.

We have all these microbes sitting us and micromanaging our surfaces.

I love hearing you talk about that.

To what extent is that just randomly happening?

And to what extent is our immune system sort of actively managing this?

The immune system is definitely there to pull some strings, I'd say.

And I love this one paper where they had people put their hands into a jar of bacteria.

I think it was E. coli that they put their hands in.

And of course, then the hand is full of bacteria.

And then they retest after a while and they see that most of the bacteria are gone.

And this is also because, well, the skin bacteria and then our immune system and cells producing antibacterial substances.

So the body takes care of quite a few things if you let it and give it the time.

And

Of course, they have to work together.

The immune system will allow the bacteria when it sees that the cells are okay.

So if there's a bacteria in the gut, for example, and it's producing short fatty acids that really nurture our gut cells and the gut cells are actually feeling better and they have more fuel and energy and they look healthier, so to say, then the immune system will be like, oh, whatever's going on there, I'm not getting in it because...

It seems like it's a good deal.

This basically happens every day, every second in our gut all the time.

Also with foods, if we're eating that or that.