Abstract
The human microbiota is formed by all the microbes that inhabit the human body in symbiosis. It is widely recognized that the microbiota participates in maintaining the corporal homeostasis and that alterations in its composition may have negative effects in people's health. During the last thirty years, isolated Venezuelan Amerindian communities have experienced a transition in their lifestyle towards a more occidental or urban one. Differences in microbiota composition found among traditional Amerindian communities and urban subjects suggest an association between urban lifestyles and a reduction of the body microbiota diversity; this is probably related to urban hygiene habits, changes in diet, antibiotic consumption and different environmental contact. There is also an association between urban lifestyle/industrial development and the increase of diseases related to inappropriate immune responses, such as, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, type 1 diabetes and allergies. Understanding the complexity of this microbiota and its changes as a consequence of the transition into modern practices, will help improve our comprehension of diseases that represent a challenge for the industrialized world, and will let us establish health preventive and corrective regulations.
| Translated title of the contribution | Microbiota of indigenous people of the Venezuelan Amazon: Influence of lifestyles |
|---|---|
| Original language | Spanish |
| Pages (from-to) | 291-303 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Gaceta Medica de Caracas |
| Volume | 126 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| State | Published - Oct 2018 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Medicine
Keywords
- Amerindians
- Bacterial diversity lifestyle
- Health
- Human microbiota
- Parasites
- Urbanization