Unhealthy microbes can thrive behind ears, between toes

Unhealthy microbes can thrive behind ears, between toes


You may not need to wash your mouth out with soap, but the rest of your body still needs a good scrub.

That  includes nooks and crannies like those behind your ears, between your toes, and inside your bellybutton. According to a new George Washington University study, doing so keeps the microbiome, or collection of microbes living on and in the human body, balanced — and less healthy strains from taking over.

To test the “Grandmother Hypothesis,” named for a study author’s grandmother’s advice to always wash behind your ears, between the toes and in the bellybutton, researchers had more than 100 graduate and undergraduate students collect their own skin microbiome data, swabbing moist and oily “hotspots” like the navel, between toes and behind ears, as well as dry areas like the calves and forearms.

The researchers’ theory?  Areas washed less often, when compared with the skin on arms or legs, could harbor different types of bacteria.

The students extracted and sequenced the DNA in the skin samples, comparing the microbes living in the trifecta of hotspots to those in dry, exposed control regions.

Researchers found that the forearms and calves contained a greater diversity and thus potentially healthier collection of microbes, compared with those from the hotspots.

Why does this matter? Your microbiome hangs in a perfect balance that works for you and your body. When troublemaking microbes threaten to shake up your ecosystem, conditions like eczema or acne can crop up.

Or, better put: Research supports that soaping up everywhere, in all the spots your grandmother suggested, is a recipe for success.

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