Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Cells, Microbes & Viruses => Topic started by: chris on 03/05/2017 18:08:09

Title: How much of my body weight is me and how much is bacteria?
Post by: chris on 03/05/2017 18:08:09

Fred writes, from his yacht:

If I have more bacteria than cells in my body, how much of my body weight is me and how much is bacteria?

What do you think?

Title: Re: How much of my body weight is me and how much is bacteria?
Post by: Colin2B on 05/05/2017 08:23:13

NIH has studied this and say it is between 1-3% of body weight. Even so bacteria outnumber body cells by 10:1, but they are small in comparison.


See details of the study here https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-human-microbiome-project-defines-normal-bacterial-makeup-body