Step 1: Some of the most interesting things I have learned in this course is probably the gut microbiome. Prior to taking this course, I honestly had no idea what gut microbiomes are and their function. I find it amazing how even up to this date, researchers are unable to indefinitely say that gut microbiomes are correlated to developing certain diseases and they are able to suggest that. Learning so much about microbiomes has really made me reflect on my life choices up to this point. I have not done many things that harm my gut microbiome, but it has made me think about the time where I had to take antibiotics for an oral abscess. I did not know that antibiotics would adversely affect my microbiome and thought that it was the best medicine possible because it can get rid of infections. I now understand why the dentist recommended me to take kefir in order to support my gut microbiome that was negatively affected by the antibiotics. I also did not expect this course to be so highly interactive in terms of discussion boards and reading many articles per week. This class has definitely improved my ability in reading scientific articles that I have always struggled with due to the abundance of information and lengthiness. Each week I learn something new about gut microbiomes and its correlation to many different aspects of health. I wonder what the upcoming weeks will have in store for me. I will probably be surprised at how much more I will be able to learn about the gut microbiome.
Step 2: antibiotics would adversely affect my microbiome.
Step 3: The phrase that I underlined was “antibiotics would adversely affect my microbiome.” I believe that I chose to underline this phrase is because I have experience taking a couple different antibiotics to fight different infections. I would have never known that antibiotics would have such a big impact in altering our gut microbiome. I have always known that it kills both good and bacteria, but I never gave it too much thought because I did not feel any negative side effects from taking antibiotics. I think it is very interesting how there are many many kinds of antibiotics that target specific bacteria. As bacteria adapt and develop certain resistance, are new antibiotics created that are able to fight off the new bacteria or do people just rely on taking different antibiotics to kill it? I always thought it was weird that people took probiotics because they are literally ingesting bacteria and bacteria has always been associated to be bad, but now I know that probiotics are very beneficial to our gut microbial communities which impacts our overall health.
Step 4: I think from this writing exercise, I have a better idea of what to write my final paper on. I plan on writing something along the lines of how different types of antibiotics affects the gut microbiome and whether or not people should ultimately rely on antibiotics to fight infections. I would first give an in-depth summary of antibiotics and their function. To prepare for this final paper, I will start to research articles that would provide relevant information on gut microbiome and antibiotics. I will do this while keeping in mind that half of my sources must be peer-reviewed.
