What are the main roles of the intestinal microbiota ? The intestinal microbiota, formerly called intestinal flora, is an important organ of our body that participates in our health and well-being. It consists of a complex and diverse ecosystem of microorganisms that reside on the surface of the intestinal mucosa : mainly bacteria, but also yeasts and viruses. The intestinal microbiota is specific to each individual : it can be considered as our identity card. In fact, one-third of the bacteria are common with others while the remaining two-thirds are unique. Each individual is housed about 100,000 billion bacteria, which is ten times the [...]