When you think of appendix what usually comes to mind? Emergency surgery? Infections? Near-Death ruptures in bodies? I don’t think there’s ever been a positive connotation to the word! But wait, you can finally take a sigh of relief and know that humans were built very strategically with intelligent design, adapted to their conditions to thrive. Every organ, every fold of intestinal wall, every tonsils & every gallbladder hold an important function in our body!
In the past, scientists thought the appendix was an ‘accidental’ organ, nonfunctional and unnecessary to the human body… Until now. Researchers at Midwestern University found that the appendix actually stores beneficial bacteria necessary to keep the gut immersed with healthy colonizing bacteria.
When our body is overwhelmed with infection from acute trauma or even more mild GI upset (like that cold pizza you ate that was a few days too old), the appendix may be called into backup sending its reservoir of healthy bacteria to the intestines to balance the good vs ‘bad’ bacteria.
A reservoir for friendly gut bacteria… Thank you appendix!
Look forward to hearing more about this research in the near future.
Read more: https://www.thrillist.com/health/nation/what-does-the-appendix-do-function