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2015-04-19. By Kelly.
A recent news article published in Science on April 17, 2015, called Hunter-Gatherer Lifestyle Boosts Microbial Diversity in Amazon Villagers by Nadia Ramlagan discusses the diversity of microbes found in the gut of Yanomami villagers. The Yanomami people live in relative isololation in the jungle of Brazil spreading throughout a 94,191 square kilometer region near the border of Venezuela. This particular group of villagers have only recently been found in 2008 and have little contact with other people. Dr. Dominguez-Bello and her team collected fecal, skin, and mouth swabs of 34 individuals to analyze the microbial DNA. Dr. Dominguez-Bello found a much great diversity of bacteria in the guts of semi-nomadic hunter-gather life style than people living in modern societies. The study also showed that the Yanomami people also carry the antibiotic resistant genes for twenty-three different drugs. This research indicates that the antibiotic resistance is a natural feature of the human microbiota and is waiting to be activated after antibiotic use. Researchers believe that beneficial health effects are afforded to the Yanomami people by higher levels of some bacteria such as the prevention of kidney stones. By researching the microbes of peoples living ancestral lifestyles, it could lead to finding microbes with therapeutic values to treat immune conditions asthma, allergies, and diabetes.
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