Is Staying Home, Washing, and Cleaning Not Good for Our Microbiome?
15 Dec 2025 · 6 min
Podcast episode of Ask the Health Expert hosted by JJ Virgin (Dec 28, 2020). The episode centers on a listener question about whether staying home and increased washing/cleaning harms the microbiome. Guest Dr. Vincent Pedre emphasizes the importance of microbial diversity — exposure to varied bacteria (e.g., from hand dishwashing, outdoor play, pets) supports immune and gut health — and cautions against overuse of antibacterial products. The transcript also contains multiple sponsor segments advertising Earth Breeze (laundry detergent sheets), Wayfair, Chrysler, Monarch (budgeting app), and Ray-Ban/Meta glasses, and closes with subscription instructions.
Chapters
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Is Staying Home Washing and Cleaning Not.
Good for Our Microbiome?
This is JJ Virgin, New York Times best selling author, celebrity nutrition expert and Fitness hall of famer. I've been on a lifelong quest for answers to the toughest health questions and now I'm sharing what I found with you. Welcome to Ask the Health Expert. Leah from my Superimmune Secrets masterclass asks, is staying home washing and cleaning not good for our microbiome? If so, what can we do to compensate? Hey, it's JJ and I've got America's gut doctor and the author of Happy Gut doctor Vincent Pedray with me to answer this question. He's a longtime meditator and yoga teacher and he used this to help him overcome his fear of needles. Yeah, it's kind of hard to be a medical doctor with that and even became certified in medical acupuncture after that. And bonus points, he is quite the salsa dancer. He'll be right back with me, so stay stay with us.
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This is a funny question because bacteria are everywhere. And when I say everywhere, literally everywhere. Like some of the most contaminated places in your own home that are full of bacteria are the sponge you use to clean the dishes in the kitchen sink and the toilet bowl flush. So, and the idea is, yeah, you don't want to, you don't want to be using all these antibacterial soaps. And they actually found that when you do the dishes by hand, that exposure to bacteria reduces your risk. And this has also been looked at in children, reduces the risk of asthma and allergic diseases. So there is an importance to getting exposed to a variety of bacteria and not just what you find in your home, but also what you find out in nature, like getting out to the park, sitting on the grass, getting some dirt on you. You know, all of these ways are ways to get exposed to a diverse group of bacteria. And diversity is what builds a strong gut and a gut immune system. So that is what you want to aim for. And even just thinking about diversity, I was thinking about, you know, people who have pets. I mean, dogs, when they lick you, they're like microbiome expansion machines. They, they help diversify your microbiome because they're out there getting dirty and getting into all sorts of things. And it's not bad. It's actually good for us and it's good for our immune system.
This is JJ with Ask the Health Expert. I do this five times a week, so make sure you never miss a show by going to subscribetojay.com.
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