Helpful microbes

Find out how some microbes are helpful to us.

In your book, Our Wondrous World (Chapter 3), Disha learns that not all microbes are bad. Her Anna tells her that some microbes help us make curd from milk, and help us digest our food.

Disha watches her mother make idlis at home and wonders what makes the idli batter so fluffy. The answer is microbes! Microbes help make the idli batter rise.

One day Aditya Anna has an upset stomach after eating food at a fair. Parents often give curd, or buttermilk made from curd, for an upset stomach. The small microbes in curd join the good microbes in the stomach and help with digestion. But if the problem is severe, we must see a doctor and take medicines.

So Disha's final discovery is this: some microbes spoil our food, while some help us make food, and help us digest it too.

Some microbes are helpful: they turn milk into curd, make idli batter rise and help us digest food, which is why curd or buttermilk is given for an upset stomach; if it is severe, see a doctor.

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