Las Vegas Weekly Shutterstock Genevie Durano Sat, Mar 13, 2021 (2 a.m.) The theme song of an ’80s sitcom goes, “You take the good, you take the bad/You take them both and there you have/The facts of life.” The same can be said of our gut microbiome, the complex system—comprising 300 to 500 species of good and bad bacteria—that affects not just our digestive system but also has links to mental health, autoimmune diseases, endocrine disorders, cancer and more. Over the past couple of decades, scientists have amassed a wealth of knowledge about the gut, beyond that one long input/output tube that we think of as our digestive system. It turns out, there’s a whole lot going on in there, and paying attention to what we put in our bodies can greatly affect all of our other systems, from our ability to fight off disease to our moods.