Science Questions

Do gut bacteria make vitamins?

I read somewhere that gut bacteria makes some of our vitamins for us. Troy

We put this question to Gareth Morgan:

Gareth: We get some of our vitamins from our diet or the body makes them themselves. That dietary source is obviously very important. Bacteria are very important in digestion and dealing with food properly. It’s entirely possible that bacteria may have an important influence on how well we extract vitamins from our foods.

Chris: Does that include any specific types of vitamins?

Gareth: It could be any of them but B or K vitamins would be the type of things that would be influenced.

May 2008