Now you know about the friendly bacteria in your colon, about how important they are to health and how to keep them happy. The critical issue is: if you feed them well they will thrive, and so will you. So let’s look at a few issues involving the colon and health.

Colonic irrigation. A fashionable treatment promoted by so-called wellness clinics. This is based on the belief that the sole purpose of the colon is to store waste products before they are voided as poo, and that cleaning the colon makes it healthier. A bit like cleaning the drains! But as you now understand, washing out the bacteria which should be there is an unhealthy act. So avoid the poo fairy at all costs!

Starvation. Another health fad promoted by various religions as well as wellness clinics. But to maintain a healthy biome in the colon it needs to be fed. A healthy colon is one which is full of bacteria and the substances they feed on. Depriving the bacteria of essential foods helps no one.

Faecal transplants. Occasionally, for a variety of reasons, the colon is invaded by bacteria which are not normally found there and which cause illness. One approach to a cure is to inject, through the anus into the colon, a sample of faeces from a normal person – to reestablish the normal biome. There are two aspects which need consideration. Firstly, it is doubtful that anyone with medical training would know to recognise normal healthy activity in the colon of the donor (previous blogs), and secondly, unless the newly introduced ‘right’ bacteria are fed correctly they will die out.

Prebiotics and probiotics. A few of the colon bacteria have been isolated and are sold commercially in the form of yoghourt or capsules and promoted for colon health. Again, a couple of comments. Firstly, few bacteria pass successfully through the stomach, as it produces acid designed specifically to prevent the passage of pathogens, and secondly, as we have discovered previously, the persistence of plenty of friendly bacteria in the colon depends on them being fed well. Other products consisting of soluble fibres also purport to promote colon health, but as described before, a healthy colon diet is composed of a many components.

Diseases of the colon. This is not the place to list or discuss the causes of disease and other unhealthy conditions which involve the colon. Suffice to say that some of these are the direct result of the colon not functioning well and to the lack of a healthy biome. Prevention surely depends on being aware of ‘the other’ – the friendly bacteria, and looking after them, so that together we can be happy and healthy.