Can getting your hands dirty actually make you feel better?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
We often think of dirt as something to avoid. But could the soil beneath our feet hold microbes that benefit our health?
Researchers from the University of Colorado, Boulder studied a common soil bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae. In the lab, they exposed immune cells to inflammatory stress, then introduced the bacterium. They observed how the cells responded.
Results? Immune cells which were exposed to the bacterium had a more balanced immune response.
In other words, microbes in soil may help our bodies better handle stress.
Huh! Maybe a little dirt isn’t so bad after all!
Reference: Holbrook, E. M., Zambrano, C. A., Wright, C. T. O., Dubé, E. M., Stewart, J. R., Sanders, W. J., Frank, M. G., MacDonald, A. S., Reber, S. O., & Lowry, C. A. (2023). Mycobacterium vaccae NCTC 11659, a Soil-Derived Bacterium with Stress Resilience Properties, Modulates the Proinflammatory Effects of LPS in Macrophages. International journal of molecular sciences, 24(6), 5176. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24065176