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How much of my body weight is me and how much is bacteria?

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chris (OP)

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How much of my body weight is me and how much is bacteria?

« 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?

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Colin2B

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Re: How much of my body weight is me and how much is bacteria?

« Reply #1 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

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