Poisonous oxygen: How your microbiome protects you

A breath brings both life and poison. Free radicals cause destructive oxidative stress in your cells. But your microbiome fights invisibly for you and your health.

Oxygen – the elixir of life and, at the same time, a treacherous poison. Without it, there would be no breath, no life. But the same force that drives our cells also puts them under constant attack: free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) cause oxidative stress, which accelerates aging and diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.

This episode takes you on a journey from the cyanobacteria of the “Great Oxidation Event” to your own gut microbiome. There, gut bacteria fight against the silent poison gas day after day – maintaining the balance that makes your survival possible in the first place. Discover why bacteria are not only ancient enemies, but also our closest allies: from mitochondria as the powerhouses of cells to butyrate-producing microbes that capture oxygen, reduce oxidative stress, and train the immune system.

A glimpse into the invisible world where oxygen, the microbiome, and health are inextricably linked—and which shows why, without bacteria, we would have long since perished from our own elixir of life.