12 Myths About The Human Body Debunked

When you think of body parts that someone doesn’t need, you will likely mention the appendix. For a long time, many people including renowned scientists and medical professionals, will have told you that the appendix’s function is no longer required. That function being the digestion of grass, due to similarities with other grass eating mammals, and that it is something we have just held on to through evolution. But alas, this is wrong yet again.

Whereas it is true that people can lead rich, full lives without their appendix, this does not mean that it does not have a vital role in our bodies.

Our guts are teeming with bacteria. Unless you are suffering from a major intestinal illness, these will be almost all beneficial to us. These intestinal microflora provide numerous functions for our body that we could not survive without. Digestion, the fighting off of deadly infections, counteracting the effects of depression as well as other mental illnesses, and even what foods we crave, can all be attributed to these wonderful little helpers.

However sometimes, such as after a particular bout of intense intestinal distress, the numbers of these bacteria can fall drastically, therefore leaving the intestines open to invasion by particularly nasty pathogens, such as those that cause botulism.

Fortunately, the appendix will have saved a reservoir of these good bacteria, thus allowing numbers to replenish before any of these harmful bugs can take residence, thereby taking us back to our healthy state which we were in before.