Multiple organisms! Your sexy, sexy microbes

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – If you are searching for a hot date for Valentine’s Day, consider using a swab!

It turns out good “chemistry” has a lot to do with good biology and multiple organisms. That’s organisms.

Dr. Bill Miller is an evolutionary biologist and expert on microbiomes, the millions of microbes living on your body.

“We have a huge amount of microbial life in us and on us that makes us who we are,” he tells News1130. “We are in an intimate partnership with this microbial life so close that we can’t do without it. We can’t stay alive or have our normal metabolism or immunological reactions without this association.”

Maybe we can’t have a normal sex life without it either!

“We used to think that a couple’s ‘chemistry’ was something vague in the air. Then there was a theory about pheromones, the scent molecules that people give off. Well, it turns out there may be a hidden mixture in this brew — the microbial life that is part of us,” explains Miller.

And nowhere do we swap more sexy, sexy microbiome than orally.

“We’re talking about the bugs in your mouth. A study was done on intimate kissing and, first of all, they found there is an enormous amount of microbial transfer between partners — like 80 million microbes per kiss. They also found that there is a commonality between the microbial participants in the mouths of people who kiss frequently.”

Miller says you’d expect that, but there was a surprise when they asked partners to stop kissing for a period of time.

“They then reevaluated the microbial composition and found there was an overlap — there was something in common about the microbial life between people that were attracted to each other. That attraction may be, in part, to the microbial overlap that existed before they started kissing.”

And put down the Axe Body Spray. Another study found women seem to be attracted to the body odour of men whose immunological status was complementary to theirs.

“So if you have a healthy female and a healthy male, if their immunological status was different but still healthy, that’s who they seemed to pick. You could actually relate this to specific markers in the blood.”

The reasoning is that, in an evolutionary sense, immunology counts. If you mix the immunological complement of two healthy people, the children will be a mixture of both and better prepared for health challenges ahead.

Miller says it is becoming increasingly apparent that our microbiome has a tremendous influence upon us — scientists are uncovering more hidden cues in our microbial life that can govern the choices we make, even when it comes sexual partners.