Is a naturally grown apple really that much healthier than an apple grown under conventional conditions? We talk to Marco van Es of Bac2nature. His research foundation links crop soil, the microbiome, the quality of our immune system, and our health. Turns out, for more and more experts like van Es: It’s all about diversity, and it’s all about the bigger picture.

When we choose a naturally-cultivated apple, instead of one conventionally grown, will our choice effect our health? Well, an increasing amount of experts say it does. Take Bac2nature. This Dutch research foundation has been looking into the whole journey from soil to gut health. Its founder, Marco van Es is one of the growing number of researchers asking whether naturally grown crops have higher microbial diversity than conventional counterparts. And how that plays out in our intestines and its microbiome, and ultimately our health.

Learning journey

When probiotic yoghurts entered in our supermarkets, we realised a few new things about bacteria, Marco begins to explain. About how large numbers was entering our guts and making us healthier. And how there were bad ones, as well as good ones. Meanwhile, we have also started hearing more and more about the microbiome. How that soup of bacteria, fungi and viruses lives in our intestines. And on our skin and in our lungs. And how it affects our health. Other issues have more recently come onto our radar. How pesticides on foods has been affecting farmers working with the stuff. But there’s also the issue what happens to our health when we regularly ingest pesticides on the crops we eat. Or what any of this has to do with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

Microbiome and diversity

Going back to these little yogurts that helped good bacteria into our gut, we also discovered something else. That it’s not just about numbers. That it’s also about the overall health of the group of bacteria, and about variation. And that our immune system depends on such variation: that diversity is key to health. We now know that microbiome biodiversity helps protection against allergies and chronic and inflammatory diseases. But also against malnutrition and obesity, and all kinds of important body systems such as the nervous system. It really is quite simple, and says Marco. “The more diverse the bacteria are: The healthier, and the more resilient that person is.”

“The more diverse the bacteria are: The healthier, and the more resilient that person is.”

That’s quite an apple!

Ok, but how does all of that relate to the type of apple we choose? Some naturally cultivated crops, in open ground and without pesticides, have shown to contain higher microbial biodiversity compared to conventionally grown. Earlier similar research has been done on strawberries for example. And if we turn things around, eat things without that diversity, we can become unhealthy quite fast. For example when we eat highly processed food, adds Marco, pointing to an eye-opening book about this topic.

Biodiversity and the bigger picture

But it’s not just about the soil and the conditions we give our crops to grow in. It’s also about what we do to our food, Marco explains, taking us back to industrial times. Because when we started making our food last longer there were some disadvantages. Doing this impoverishes the microbial biodiversity that enters our body and gut health. “Nearly everything we eat has a long shelf life: It has been pasteurised or sterilised,” says Marco. “So, not only the micro-organisms that can cause food going off have been removed, but all of them.”

Microbiome: the even bigger picture

So, there is an even bigger picture to look at. “We have less and less variety of bacteria in our intestines in our Western society. This seems to be increasingly related to the fact that we live further and further away from nature,” says Marco. Take our reduced contact with soil in recent decades, and combine that with our modern lifestyles and modern nutrition. All this is said to have led to the depletion of the gut microbiome with adverse effects to human health. Because the microbiome lives not just in our gut. It is also around us. We now also know for instance that low microdiversity in buildings and offices, streets and schools, is making us sick.

Are we becoming more fragile?

We have seen that people that live in close contact with nature have higher intestinal biodiversity than those that don’t. Take those that live in blue zones. These hunter-gatherers live on naturally grown foods, and lack autoimmune diseases, highlights Marco. Over in Australia, he adds, an experiment with urban green management has shown predictable positive effects. For instance on the diversity of the local microbiome and the health of residents. Meanwhile over in Finland, researchers have shown that daycare children that played in soil outside had become healthier. “How strong are the substantiations that our decrease in contact with nature is related to how we are becoming more fragile? Well, very, and this is starting to become clearer and clearer,” he adds.

“How strong are the substantiations that our decrease in contact with nature is related to how we are becoming more fragile? Well, very, and this is starting to become clearer and clearer”

Back to where we started?

So, biodiversity is crucial to humanity’s survival, whether it’s in our food, schools or buildings. Does that mean we have to pick up our hunter gatherer life, or go back to pre-industrialised style living? Thankfully there are more modern solutions to reintroduce and support microbial diversity in our food and lives, says Marco. As mentioned earlier, we start by choosing naturally grown fruit and vegetables. It is good to get a diversity of micro-organisms into our gut. And eat a variety of crops that come from microbially-rich soil. But we can go further. Do our own research for example. We can find out how different ways of cooking effect the survival of good bacteria in our food. Or we can choose to eat food as fresh as possible. Then we can learn to ferment our food, as many cultures have done for centuries. When we ferment food ourselves, explains Marco, we can up its nutritional value, shelf life and taste, and microbial diversity.

Microbiome for all

Then we can try to increase the diversity of the microbiome in our homes by having more houseplants. We can let our dogs and cats spend time in nature, so they can bring home a diverse microbiome. Growing our own vegetables lets us have more contact with soil. We can make more trips to the forest or our possible city park. Lastly, we can make our playgrounds, cities and buildings greener. Another thing we can do is recalibrate our view of hygiene, as Marco explains: “Hygiene has brought us a lot. So, we can continue to use it in the right way. That is avoiding pathogens, but also making sure we are exposed to [good] natural bacteria.” All in all, more and more experts say that exposure to a diverse microbiome is crucial. For us, for nature, for animals, for the earth. And so yes, it seems it starts with the type of apple we buy…

Image courtesy of Pexels, Photomix Company

About our interviewee

Marco van Es is the founder of Bac2nature. His research foundation aims to support companies, healthcare professionals, policy makers and people with health-promoting lifestyle ambitions. Its central aim is to make the connection between biodiversity and human health.

Central to this, is the belief that contact with natural microorganisms supports resilient health. So, Bac2nature has been researching whether fruit and vegetables are healthier when grown in a microbial-rich environment in the open. This type of soil is open, unprocessed, and lacks pesticides and other artificial substances.