What numeric claim about bacterial versus human genes does the speaker make?

Aaron Hartman, MDFunctional Medicine Specialist | Clinical Researcher

You are what you eat, from your head all the way down to your feet #ModernMedicine #HolisticHealth

29 Dec 2025 · 1 min

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0:43

A short YouTube monologue by Aaron Hartman, MD arguing that diet and contact with soil-derived bacteria strongly influence human health. Hartman emphasizes that many bacterial genes (which he claims outnumber human genes) come from dirt and that eating unprocessed, naturally grown foods supports the body's self-healing and repair. He closes with a colloquial recommendation to 'play in the dirt.'

Questions this video answers

He claims there are 'a million DNA genes in your body from bacteria' and 'only about 23 genes of your own', stating bacterial DNA is almost 10 times more than human.

Chapters

You are what you eat from your head down to your feet. I heard Jiminy Cricket tell it to me when I was in sixth grade and thought it was silly but it's actually real. We have learned in the last 20 years how important and how what's in your body comes from the dirt and sorrel. For example bacteria in the soil have DNA. Did you know that you have a million DNA genes in your body from bacteria but only about 23 genes of your own? Literally there's almost 10 times more bacteria DNA than there is in you. Where does this come from? The dirt from soil. It's almost as if we came from the ground and being closer connected to the ground playing in the dirt, running around eating foods that are grown in the dirt, not processed, not hydrogenated all this kind of crazy stuff. But real food is a huge part of our body's ability to self heal and self repair. So play in the dirt. Your body will thank you for it.