10% Human: How Your Body’s Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness

by Alanna Collen

Obesity, autism, mental health problems, IBS, allergies, auto-immunity, cancer. Does the answer to the modern epidemic of ‘Western’ diseases lie in our gut?

You are 10% human. For every one of your cells, there are nine impostors hitching a ride. You are not just flesh and bone, but also bacteria and fungi. And you are more ‘them’ than you are ‘you’.

Your gut alone hosts 100 trillion of them and until recently we thought that our microbes didn’t matter. This is all set to change as the latest scientific research tells a very different story, one where microbes run our bodies and becoming healthy is impossible without them.

In this ground-breaking book, biologist Alanna Collen reveals how our personal colony of microbes influence our weight, immune system, mental health and even our choice of partner. This is a new way of understanding modern diseases – obesity, autism, mental health problems, gut disorders, allergies, auto-immunity and even cancer – as she argues they have their root in our failure to cherish our most fundamental and enduring relationship: that with our microbes.

Illuminating many of the questions still unanswered by the human genome project 10% Human completely changes our understanding of diet, modern disease and medicine. The good news is that unlike our human cells, we can change our microbes for the better and this book shows you how. A revelatory and indispensable guide: life – and your body – will never seem the same again.

Genres: Health, Science, Nonfiction, Biology, Medicine, Nutrition, Medical

369 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 23, 2015

About the author

Alanna Collen is a science writer, with both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology from Imperial College London, and a PhD in evolutionary biology from University College London and the Zoological Society of London. She is a well-travelled zoologist, an expert in bat echolocation, and an accidental collector of tropical diseases.

During her scientific career, Alanna has written for the Sunday Times Magazine, as well as about wildlife for ARKive.org. She has appeared on numerous radio and television programmes, including BBC Radio 4’s Tribes of Science and Saturday Live, and BBC One’s adventure-wildlife show Lost Land of the Volcano. She lives in Bedfordshire with her husband.

Reviews

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 1 out of 5]

First, the title of the book is arguably misleading.

Yes, by cell numbers, we're 90 percent prokaryotes. But, by mass, we're 90 percent human. That's because, while prokaryotic cells have evolved in symbiosis with us and other eukaryotes and carry out certain specialized functions, eukaryotic cells can do so much more overall, in general.

OK, now to the specific main problem.

This book is largely, for the first 2/3, yet another in a plethora of "one solution" health care/health science books. Collen nuances her stance near the end, but it's way, way too late at that point.

Some specifics of this, from earlier chapters?

1. Autism
A. She ignores a genetic connection to age of both parents (not just mom) at birth of child. The statistical correlation is strong enough, and we know about gamete genetic degeneration with age) for there to be good reason to think the correlation is causal.
B. She apparently conflates autism and "autism spectrum disorder," then is unaware, or puts aside, that in the US, DSM-IV, the fourth version of the psychology bible, rediagnosed what DSM-III called "Schizoid Disorder of Childhood or Adolescence" as "Asperger's." (Link here.)
C. She undercuts herself, seemingly, talking about a person whose alleged autism was reportedly caused by antibiotics wiping out his microbiome, then later notes that USE of antibiotics to wipe out certain gut bacteria is being touted as a remedy
D. Doesn't tell us if studies saying that antibiotics "caused" autism screened out parental age or other controls

2. Mental health issues
A. The "serotonin hypothesis" for depression is simplistic and arguably passe. Neurons have multiple serotonin receptors and we still don't know which one(s) is/are affected by SSRIs and with what exact result.
B. She calls tryptophan the direct precursor of serotonin. Wrong. There are two intermediate steps, the second of which results in 5-HTP.

3. Allergies
A. She seems to dismiss the "hygiene hypothosis" for the rise in allergies without asking why it couldn't be co-symptomatic with the microbiome theory.
B. She totally ignores the possibility that plant allergies, and possibly asthma as a result, could be caused by global warming and plant growth changes associated with that.
C. She doesn't even mention the rise of industrialization in the west, above all the post-WWII rise in plastics and other petrochemicals, as fueling asthma.
C2. Related to this, she doesn't mention studies which control for things like nearness to petrochemical or other industrial plants.

In general:
A. As noted, this is yet another "one solution" book, and deserves skepticism for that reason alone.
B. Instead of a one-cause angle, humans actually have multiple possible causes for a lot of issues, including genes, epigenetics, microbiome, and the macroenvironment.
C. Here's how this would actually play out with obesity:
1. Contra her hand-waving dismissal, the US South has long been known for the especial unhealthiness of its eating (macroenvironment). From this, some of that spread to the rest of the US, then due to "Coca-Colonialization," spread abroad. (Macroenvironment.)
2. Mothers with high gestational diabetes have higher birthweight babies, that are more likely to have early onset Type II diabetes, obesity, etc. (epigenetics)
3. To the degree that genes, not epigentics, are involved with these families, they're genes that are swimming in a "conducive" background pool (Genes + macroenvironment + epigenetics)
4. Microbiome may be a background to all of this, but it's very likely not the primary cause.

Finally, other than "I eat more fiber" at the end of the book, Collen relates none of these pages to her personal illness which opened it.

[Chrisl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's a quote from page 71, reflecting what I'm appreciating about the book :

"Backhed suggests that what we can extract from our food depends on what our microbial factory has been set up to expect. If our vegetarian were to abandon her stance and indulge in a hog roast, she would probably not have enough amino-acid-loving microbes to make the most of it. But a regular meat-eater would have a sizeable collection of suitable microbes, and would extract more calories from the hog roast than the vegetarian. And so it follows for other nutrients. A person who eats very little fat would have very few microbes that specialised for fat, and the odd doughnut or chocolate bar might make it through the large intestine without being efficiently stripped of its remaining calorific content. Someone who eats a daily tea-time treat, however, would have a large population of fat-munching bacteria, just waiting to strip their next doughnut to its bare essentials, providing our snacker with the full dose of calories."

And from page 82 :

"Microbes, both viral and bacterial, are showing us that there's more to obesity than eating too much and moving too little. The energy each of us extracts from our food, and the way in which that energy is used and stored, is intricately linked with the particular community of microbes we host. If we really want to get to the heart of the obesity epidemic, we need to look inward to the microbiota and ask what we are doing to alter the dynamic that they established with the human body in its leanest, healthiest form."

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fascinating read.
I'll try and be objective about this initially. This is a book that is written in a fairly scientific way. Despite that it is highly readable. The author - a biologist - starts by looking at the diseases that plagued mankind over a century ago. Diphtheria, polio and the like were successfully eradicated and that allowed a far longer lifespan for people in general. After that came the new "conditions" that we live with now. Diabetes, autoimmune issues, autism and other problems that started becoming prominent around the middle of the 20th century. This book takes us through these issues and looks at the current/recent interest in our microbiota. The microbes/bacteria and the like that live on us and in us are what makes us just 10% on our own. I know far more about them than I did!

I found the scientific analysis fascinating and highly readable. While I have read one or two books loosely about this field I found the general approach here quite compelling. I guess I find our ignorance of such things unsurprising but a great pity - hopefully this will continue to change. This book will affect the way I live in the future and I do really feel it is a worthwhile read - I don't tend to be this evangelical in reviews but I guess I feel I should be with this one :).

The author having maintained a fairly scientific approach for the majority of this book offers an excellent "coda" towards the end. In a sense it is a summary of what she has said so far and some signposting to the way she feels things should be. The final chapter sees her leave the scientific fence to a greater degree and become personal and evangelical herself - I happy with that and would like to thank her for this excellent read.

To anyone reading this I would say that if you have an interest in the subject matter this book is well worth a look. If you have any issues with modern day "conditions" such as the ones I've mention and more or concerns about antibiotics then I would say you should definitely consider reading this.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was not surprised to see all of the five star reviews for this book. As a person well versed in biology I was treated with a number of "A-ha" moments while reading this book. This book serves well in shining light on the paradigm shift that is taking place in the medical community. It should not be surprising that the resistance to this new information comes more from corporate motives than it does from advances in knowledge. I would recommend this book to anyone that would like to open their mind to the latest research that supports the idea that our health is dependent more on the microbes living in our body than most other factors. The connection of microbes to the multitude of autoimmune diseases that have recently taken over our society is astounding to say the least. Knowledge is power, and it seems that it will be a matter of time before we use this knowledge to improve the overall health of our society. Much depends on our honest assessment of this information and how we decide to use it.

[Sonja Arlow · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I think this is a great book for anyone interested in an easy science or looking to learn more about the human microbiota. As it stands, I have read my fair share of non-fiction medical science so a lot of the little factoids the author incorporated were already known to me.

The author focuses mainly on hypotheses on obesity, autism, and the overuse of antibiotics. The study of our microbiota is mostly still in its infancy and some of her theories are quite controversial and not (yet?) backed by rigorous science.

What I did find interesting is the section on probiotics. Those little pills we dutifully take when prescribed antibiotics. The only reason a probiotic contains very specific strains of bacteria is not because they are the most beneficial to restore your gut microbes after course of antibiotics, it’s because they are the only strains of bacteria that can be cultured, and mass produced.

I was interested in exploring the relationship between the microbiota and the mind. However, this section was almost exclusively about autism. As almost 70% of serotonin is produced in the gut, I would have thought the author would spend a bit more time here.

The one thing I found lacking, is any discussion on fermented foods to help diversify and feed your gut microbes. The author over-promotes fiber in several chapters but never mentions fermented food (other than a quick mention of yoghurt).

There is merit to the book and it does cover an enormous amount in information and scope, however I think my expectations were a little high.

[Ettore1207]

Non posso attribuire alcun voto. Il libro in sé sarebbe da 3 stelle, ma ho molti dubbi sulla traduzione (vedi sotto, magari ti fai pure due risate).
Giudizio sospeso.

Il libro.
L'argomento è molto interessante, attuale e oggetto di ricerche soprattutto negli ultimi anni. Si tratta di verificare il ruolo dei batteri che dimorano sulle superfici del nostro corpo (microbiota) e soprattutto nell'intestino il cui interno, essendo a contattto con l'ambiente, può essere considerato anch'esso una superficie. Il numero di cellule batteriche che ospitiamo è circa 10 volte superiore al totale delle nostre cellule. Perciò, su base numerica, possiamo essere considerati... umani al 10%! Questa massa di batteri pare avere un'importanza notevole sulla nostra salute. C'è anche che ipotizza che uno squilibrio nella composizione della flora batterica sia correlato non solo, come è biologicamente credibile, con alcune malattie intestinali, ma anche con altre patologie fra cui obesità, diabete di tipo 2 e addirittura malattie nervose (autismo). Apprezzabile la parte che mette in guardia dall'uso eccessivo di disinfettanti. Il libro si lascia andare talvolta a toni un po' troppo sensazionalistici, ma facendo una adeguata tara risulta equilibrato. C'è una buona bibliografia.

La traduzione.
Mi rendo conto che tradurre un libro del genere è un compito arduo per un traduttore generalista. Però qualcuno, e soprattutto l'editor, doveva avere l'umiltà di sottoporre la bozza a uno specialista, magari uno specializzando o un dottorando in microbiologia, che per modico compenso (si sa che costoro spesso sono ridotti alla fame) avrebbe potuto dare una bella sistemata. Pur non essendo io in possesso dell'originale in lingua inglese, mi permetto di offrirvi, fra i tantissimi, qualche esempio emblematico.


A pensarci, è palesemente ridicolo che così tanta gente abbia l’acne. E quello che è ancora più ridicolo è che sia stata fatta così poca ricerca sulle cause, malgrado un inesorabile aumento dei casi, in particolare tra adulti usciti da tempo dai tormenti adolescenziali.
E' "ridicolo" che tanta gente abbia l'acne? Ma via, cosa vuol dire? Temo che nell'originale sia ridicolous, e lo sanno anche gli studenti che una accezione è "assurdo". The traffic was ridiculous vuol dire che c'era un traffico assurdo, non un traffico ridicolo. Ricordalo, traduttore, eviterai traduzioni ridicole.

offrendo ricetto ai microbi, nell’ordine di un trilione (1.000.000.000.000) di individui per millilitro
Il "trillion" inglese (1 seguito da 12 zeri) si traduce con bilione. In italiano trilione è 1 seguito da 18 zeri.

Venticinque anni dopo l’insorgenza del virus dei polli a Mumbai,
Sono le malattie che insorgono, non i virus

oltre al rapporto tra assunzione e consumo di calorie che osserviamo sulla superficie dell’epidemia.
Superfie dell'epidemia?

Ma è soltanto in presenza di un particolare gruppo di microbi, appartenenti alla clostridia, che gli acidi biliari vengono convertiti
Alla classe Clostridia (con iniziale maiuscola!)

...forse assumendo inconsapevolmente dei farmaci quando vi spazzolate una bistecca o attraverso il latte con i cereali.
Ma sì, lucidiamole per bene, le bistecche!

Fiorivano le ipotesi e si dedicava poco tempo o energia mentale allo studio paziente, alla sperimentazione o alla costruzione delle prove prima che la nuova schiera di microbiologi della medicina zompasse scodinzolando dietro alle nuove idee.
Ah che bella immagine questa dei microbiologi che zompano. Ma che è, vuoi vede' che so' proprio romani de Roma?

... mentre coloro che vivono liberi dal sapone e dall’acqua calda ai tropici riescono a restare puliti?
Viva la libertà.

I lattobacilli sono partiti in vantaggio nell’industria probiotica soprattutto per un motivo: possono essere allevati.
I batteri non si allevano, si coltivano.

Il che significa che tutto ciò che i pazienti devono fare è trovare un medico disponibile armato di colonscopio e 250 dollari per coprire i costi dell’esemplare di feci stesso.
Campione di feci, campione, non esemplare!

Lo stesso vale per un donatore di pupù.
E' davvero singolare l'uso del termine "pupù" in un'opera di divulgazione scientifica. O forse ho torto io, va bene pupù, divulghiamo, divulghiamo al ribasso!

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed by this book. It is pop science that leans heavily on the pop and light on the science. There is a lot of cherry picking, anecdotes, animal and cell studies. It is mostly hypothesizing by the author. They are interesting hypotheses, and she brings up interesting topics. It's just that the conclusions that she makes are so light on evidence, and she conveniently ignores alternative explanations or solutions to the topics of which she speaks.

Also, as someone who graduated with a science degree from an agricultural college and has something of a passion for ag science, I winced whenever she brought up agricultural practices. She does so almost in passing, and it's clear to me that she has no idea why anyone does anything in modern agriculture, or what kind of science lies behind it (she may be surprised to learn that there is a lot of science behind it). At the very end, the only citation she makes on these passing ag comments comes from... a TV news presenter. Ouch.

The author brings up a lot of good ideas and areas of study that I would love to know more about, which is the only reason I'm giving this book 2 stars. The problem is, this book really doesn't tell me more about it. She brings up as evidence so many anecdotes, so many animal studies, and does nothing to point out their potential flaws (for example, injecting anything into an animal's nervous system is not going to tell you anything about what happens when you eat it; telling me that the study was repeated by having the animal eat that thing doesn't tell me anything if you're not telling me how much the animal actually ate--often these studies use levels that are so astronomically high that they are useless for understanding how foods affect us in our day-to-day life because we will never eat that much of a thing ever). She will often present one (often animal) study, anecdote, or case study as all the necessary evidence for her hypothesis. I kept finding myself wanting more, and not getting it. Instead, she makes a conclusion and then talks extensively about what that conclusion means. It's very frustrating.

Some of what the author seems to encourage (or at least does not try to discourage) is potentially dangerous. She seems to rail against countries with rigorous medical standards meant to protect patients against quack cures. She does this extensively with regard to fecal transplants, and is sympathetic to people who do DIY fecal transplants. She does not point out something that has been in the news recently--that these DIY fecal transplants have been transferring diseases, including HIV, to people instead of causing the miraculous cures that the author details in this book. As someone with chronic medical problems, I understand feeling frustrated, but it doesn't justify being stupid. Having reasonably high standards for evidence, particularly for areas like medicine that are literally life and death, is not a negative.

This book is just not scientifically rigorous. For those in the alternative medicine or conspiracy theory crowds, or fans of journalist Michael Pollan, this is probably a pro rather than a con. But if you're like me and you're looking for a deep introduction into the science of the human microbiome... this just isn't it.

[Viktor Stoyanov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Добре дошли в света на микро флората! 90% от вашия свят. Поне според авторката.

Много книги излязоха за гените, още повече за мозъка и неговите функции. Оказва се, че има още един твърде важен аспект, който ни определя, а не му обръщаме никакво внимание. Вероятно, защото е на микро ниво и просто не го виждаме. Според авторката, обаче, страдаме от това неглижиране. Ще спра да казвам "според авторката", но си го имайте предвид, когато правя смели твърдения. Признавам си, че научните ми познания в областта на микробиологията не са такива, че нито да потвърдя, нито да отрека твърдения, но идеята на прочита тук е да се размислим и погледнем през друга перспектива. Иначе, сме си 100% ... или поне 97-98% Сапиенс - питайте Харари, ако не вярвате, или пък вземете за буквално заглавието на тази книга.

Идеята е, че през живота си сме преносител на голямо количество микро организми в нас, в такова съотношение. Това ние добре си знаем и редовно си кусаме киселото мляко с пробиотика наименован lactobacillus bulgaricus и може и някой да се потупа по гърдите след това. Онова първото за бацила също се разглежда в книгата. Само че, излиза, че това с пробиотиците не било баш както ни го казват в рекламите. Един вид, ако те нямат храна за себе си (това всичкото в нас се развива), то ще напуснат тялото ни толкова бързо, колкото и са пристигнали. Храната им сме кръстили пребиотик. Излиза, че едното без другото няма особен смисъл. Погледнах на детето пробиотика и действително пише пробиотик+пребиотик=синбиотик. Поне в това явно не лъже авторката. За другото - да се изкажат по учени люде - държавния здравен инспектор, примерно ... и без това ми изскача от всяка новина и всяка медиа.

С такива твърдения и разкази ще се сблъскате в тази книга. Започва с разказ за употребата на антибиотици и темата се повтаря почти през цялото време. Явно тя смята, че е огромен проблем. Сравнява го с багер, който изрива тропическа гора. Смятайте ... Нзн, аз също не съм им фен, ама на места отива в крайности и им преписва тежки вини. Пак ... не мога да кажа и да не е просто мнение. Нямам тапия за такова становище.

Както вече Ви споменах, забавлявах се и с единия от разглежданите учени, британец като авторката, който през 19-ти век работил по микроорганизмите във водата и се борил с холерата при пациенти - John Snow. Очаква сега да питат GRRM, дали не е копирал и това име за борец с белите бродници и заплахата отвъд стената.

Към края нещата стават още по-странни. За първи път чувам, че се обсъжда и дори някъде прилага лечение с ... фекалии. Като носител на определена микро флора за хора, дето си нямат такава добра флора. Водело се нещо като трансплантация на микро среда, но имало разработки да бъде и на хапчета?!? Не се шегувам. Мигах доста като го четох и се почесвах без нужда. Незнам как ще го възприемете, аз все още незнам аз как да го възприема.

Като цяло ми хареса едно основно направление, че трябва да се стремим всичко в диетата ни, в организма ни да се случва, колкото се може по естествено. От раждането още се предавали микроби на новороденото и това било полезно за него. За ползата от кърменето няма какво подробно да се спирам. Също, ясно е и че органичната храна, богата на фибри е за предпочитане. Това надали ще изненада някого. Много неща като горецитираните, обаче, идват от засада и в изненада. Още един такъв пример - болести като затлъстяването може да имат връзка с точно какви малки гадини има в организма ни. Както се прави връзка и с много други болести и лечението им, пише ги в анотацията. Едва ли не, микро органичната среда, може да е по-важна от лекарства и други стандартни лечения.

Незнам, преценете сами. В част от твърденията намерих логика, в други ме беше по-трудно, но като цяло се замислих по всичко. Отговаря на този ми критерий за non fiction - да представя нови идеи, така че сравнително висока оценка.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this book!

I've been interested in gut microbes since first reading about them earlier last year, so I was very excited to see what this book had to say. And WOW, it did not disappoint! It was very interesting and informative...I learned a lot and I was very excited to see how much the medical and scientific community has learned in the last few years about microbes. It was also really terrifying and scary to read of the incidences of disease that seem beyond our control (autism, obesity & auto immune diseases) that seem to be directly correlated to the use of antibiotics and our overuse of them here in the Western World. I really really hope that changes can me made and fast, but especially here in the US antibiotics are given out like candy to anyone who visits the doctor, given to fatten up all of our meat and then onto us- and their manure is put on our plant food - also transferring onto us with consumption. While they have their place in healing, they can also destroy and cause so many other unnecessary problems.

[Vashti · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book. I read another book, called Gut by Guilia Enders, earlier this year, which was a great intro to our digestive tract and microbes. This really piqued my interest in the microbial colony that lives in our large intestine. This book goes much further, looking not only at our microbes, but all the twenty first century diseases that appear to be linked to our microbial health. Autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes, allergies, and MS, but also mental health conditions like autism and also obesity. The book is very well researched with many recent statistics in this emerging field of science. The evidence is really quite alarming, and this book really makes you think about the impacts of our modern way of living, and how it's making us sick with chronic disease. I know reading this has changed my perspective of diet, partially the need to eat a lot more fibre and prebiotic foods. I highly recommend this book to everyone. It's information that we all need to know.

[Alex Givant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book about microbes and how they impact almost all areas of our live.

[Killthehumans Savetheforest · Rating 2 out of 5]

WARNING:
CUREBIE "SCIENCE"

A bat biologist is detrimentally prescribed antibiotics, then becomes curious about antibiotics and documents her wild speculations about the implications of preliminary and contradictory research. Repeats an astounding number of myths for someone who "did research". Would love to read this exact book but written by a biologist in this field.

Genetic conditions like autism are not caused by exposure to antibiotics in childhood, because time is linear. If you classify autism as a disease or an illness you are an asshole. I searched the reviews for objections to the ENTIRE segment on autism, and found few mentions, all of them enthusiastically endorsing "how much they learned, and how their eyes have been opened", about "diseases like autism". That's your audience.

[Tatiana Shorokhova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Чувствую теперь огромную ответственность перед миллиардами микробов своего организма! Кормить их лучше клетчаткой и волокнами, не забывая про мясо (но не очень много). Есть растения, иными словами.

Ответственно подходить к антибиотикам и противомикробным средствам тоже важно.

Конечно, это не единственные выводы. Хотелось бы, чтобы наука шла вперёд и стало бы понятно, как восстанавливать свою микрофлору без, допустим, фекальных трансплантов.

Но вообще eye-opening, конечно. Где была эта книга всю мою жизнь?

[Jonna Higgins-Freese · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think there might be some interesting stuff here, but so far it suffers from the "gee whiz/I'm going to tell you something so amazing" repetition for the first fifty pages. Along with way, way basic explanations of microbial communities on the human body, which may be interesting for folks with almost no background in reading about science.

Content interesting enough to keep me up late reading. The writing is competent, but doesn't shine.

Okay, she finally got to the good stuff: re: microbes and the gut:

"the amount of weight we have gained does not quite tally with changes in 'calories consumed' and 'calories expended.' Even the bigest and most comprehensive of studies show tha tmost of the weight we have gained as a species is not accounted for by the extra food we are eating, nor by our lack of physical activity. some even indicate that we are eating _less_ than we used to, and exercising just as much" (57) Interesting anecdote about Indian doctor who discovered that chickens were dying from a virus that made them fat; ten percent of his obese patients had also had the virus at some point.

The fact that obesity has spread like an epidemic -- with its epicenter in the southeastern United States, quickly spreading -- suggests that it may, in fact, be contagious. After all, we once thought that tuberculosis was constitutional, and that ulcers were caused by diet and caffeine (instead of h. phylori). Looking at a virus known to make chickens fat, Dhurandhar discovered he could replicate those results in chickens and marmosets. And when he screened humans for AD-36 infection history, "30 percent of hte obese volunteers had had the virus, compared to just 11 percent of the lean volunteers" (77).

"For every 3,500 calories we consume beyond our energy needs, we should gain 1 lb of fat . . . . but in practice, the numbers don't add up." In one study 12 pairs of twins were fed an excess of 1000 calories per day six days a week for 100 days. Each should have gained 24 lb. The average was 18 pounds, but the range was 9 lbs to 24 lbs.

Fat cells of obese people show markers of inflammation.

Gastric bypass surgery transforms the gut biota ecosystem to mimic that found in lean people (81).
There may be a link between gut biota and mental illness.
Fecal transplants can relieve symptoms of irritable bowel; and anecdotally sometimes improve autism symptoms.

"We like to believe that we are the products of our genes and experiences. Most of us credit our virtues to the hurdles we have jumped, the pits we have climbed out of, and the triumphs we have fought for. We see our underlying personalities as fixed entities -- 'I am just not a risk-taker,' or 'I like things to be organized' -- as if tehse are a result of something intrinsic to us. Our achievements are down to determination, and our relationships reflect the strength of our characters. Or so we like to think.

"But what does it mean for free will and accomplishment, if we are not our own masters? What does it mean for human nature, and for our sense of self? The idea that _Toxoplasma-, or any other microbe inhabiting your body, might contribute to your feelings, decisions and actions, is quite bewildering." -- especially when you consider that such mental traits would then be transmissible (112).

Mother of autistic child whose research suggested that her son might be reacting to a neural infection of c. tetani, which had invaded his brain and was releasing a neurotoxin. Indeed, an 8-week course of antibiotics did temporarily relieve the symptoms. Further research showed that autistic children had more clostridium species in their guts than non-autistic children; perhaps these were also producing toxins (96). "Is it really possible that simply having a different collection of bacteria in the gut could make children flap their hands, rock back and forth, and scream for hours, as many autistic children do" Toxoplasma infections cause humans of both sexes to b/c more open to risk: men through thoughtlessness and women through increased trust. Both lose concentration, and studies in Prague and Turkey discovered that people hospitalized b/c they had caused car accidents were more likely to be infected with toxoplasma.

"As disease after disease was found to be caused by microbes in the first half of the twentieth century, the peculiar maladies of just one organ were deemed to be exempt from microbial influence: the brain . . . . it's amazing to think of the effort that has gone into curing the brain of its ailments primarily through discussion. When any other organ breaks down, we look for external causes, but when the brain misbehaves, we assume it's the fault of the individual, their parents or their lifestyle" (98)

Schizophrenics have 3 x the rate of toxoplasma infection as non-schizophrenics; also associated with OCD, ADHD, and Tourette's.

Scientists have made typically timid mouse strains more adventurous through microbial gut transplants. "Mice without gut microbes are antisocial" Generations of fruit flies who stopped being attracted to each other were found to have eaten "different foods that altered the gut microbiota, changing the smell of their sex pheromones." After treatment with antibiotics, they no longer cared who they mated with (101). Women on the pill prefer the smell of men whose immune systems are most similar to their own.

French study showed volunteers who ate live bacteria were less anxious and angry than they had been before the trial (103).

Belgian woman sent to hospital when she became aggressive, non-communicative, and sexually uninhibited. Initially given anti-psychotics but brain biopsy revealed brain infection called Whipple's disease, which also caused diarrhea (85).

Clostridia produce propionate as a breakdown product; researcher wondered whether autistic children getting overdose. Rats given injections of propionate into spinal fluid, within minutes, started "spinning, on teh spot, becoming fixated on a single object, and dashing around" and ignoring each other (107).

Love of routine linked to proprionate: rats able to learn route through maze w/o problem but "could not unlearn it -- if the route was altered, they persisted with their memory of the initial route, butting up against the newly added walls" (108). Microbes seem to be "crucial for normal memory formation. Germ-free mice placed in a maze have trouble finding their way at all, because of deficits in working memory" (109)

"There came a moment in my discovery of the microbes that inhabit the human body when I stopped seeing myself as an individual, and began to consider myself instead as a vessel for my microbiota. Now, I see us -- myself and my microbes -- as a team . . . .I am their provider and protecotr, and in return they sustain and nourish me. I find myself thinking about my meal choices in terms of what my microbes would be grateful for" 121

"Obesity, allergies, autoimmune diseases and mental health conditions all show significant rises in teh permeability of the intestines, with chronic inflammation ensuing" (141)

Antibiotics known to promote growth in livestock! "Our girths began to grow in the 1950s shortly after antibiotics were made available to the masses. But a sharp upturn in the number of overweight people occurred in the 1980s, around the same time there was a shift to super-intensive farming operations. (165)

Streptococcus can disrupt basal ganglia and appears to be linked to Tourettes. Children 14 times more likely to develop Tourette's if they ahve suffered multiple infections of a particularly nasty strain of strep in the past y ear. Parkinson's, ADHD and anxiety disorders are also linked with strep and damage to the basal ganglia (175). (Association between streptoococcal infection and obsessive-compulsive disorder, Tourette's syndrome, and tic disorder. Pediatrics 116:56-60.

[Milan Trpkovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knjiga „10% čovek“ se može okarakterisati kao svojevrsnim vodičem u svet mikroorganizma i našeg tela koje ćemo, posle čitanja, mnogo bolje upoznati. Činjenica da se u našim telima nalazi više stotina milijardi mikroba, a da se među njima može naći više od 2000 vrsta, je za mene bila frapantan podatak.

Saznao sam koje su to bolesti sa kojima smo se borili na početku XX veka, a koje su to nove bolesti koje nam donosi XXI vek. Zašto upotreba antibiotika na dugačke staze može biti štetna i kakve oni veze imaju sa osobama koje su gojazne. Takođe je provučena i priča o autizmu, kao i povezanosti ove bolesti sa bakterijama. Tu je i priča i o pomeranju granice životnog veka, problema sa alergijama, dijabetesom, dijarejom i drugim bolestima i izazovima. Zanimljiva su i objašnjenja kako dojenje utiče na razvoj deteta i na koji način carski rez može uticati na razvoj ili odsustvo određenih mikroorganizama koji su bebi potrebni kroz život.

Mnogo je malo prostora da se ovde napišu svi utisci i sve teme koje su obrađene u ovoj knjizi. Zato moram da sublimiram svoje misli sa konstatacijom da mi je knjiga prijala, da mi je otvorila oči u pogledu mnogih pitanja i da sada svet mikroba tj. bakterija i virusa posmatram sa mnogo više pažnje.

Ocena: 4+

[Leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm already a bit of a microbiome fanboy but excellent books like this and
http://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/health-... will hopefully bring greater understanding of our symbiotic microbes into the mainstream.

This will be of the utmost interest to anyone trying to learn more about the cause and effect of 21st century disease epidemics affecting developed countries such as obesity, allergies, autism, diabetes, IBS, MS etc.

Solid science presented this clearly and engagingly will provide a nourishing alternative to "alternative medicine" quackery.

[Vukasin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uh
Bas sam imao velika očekivanja od ove knjige i zaista sam mislio da ce mi biti jedna od omiljenih, ali zaista nije, cak n emogu ni do kraja da je procitam. Autorka stalno kroz knjigu ponavlja jedno te istu misao, vise pise o zivotinjama nego o ljudima, zaista je pokušala da napravi povezanost između ljudi i zivotinja, ali je meni ta veza bila jako slaba. Isto mi se cini decinjenice izlaze nepotpuno. Npr ističe da su ako covek danas teži 73kg pre 50/60 godina je tezio 54kg,ali ne ističe da su danas ljudi viši. Kolika je prosečna visina ljudi danas, a kolika tada?
Naravno, zanimljiv mi je jako bio slucaj za autizam i priča o tome kako su doktori poceli uopste da peru ruke i mantile (!!!!)

[Kristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

OH MY GOODNESS, I'M FINALLY DONE WITH THIS BOOK!!!!

Reading slumps are the worst, and despite this book giving me one, it's absolutely worth reading because it truly opened my eyes. I try not to be dramatic but I view everything differently now, no joke, and even my lifestyle is changing.

Even though this is so far from what I normally read, I would recommend this to everyone. This brings out the science nerd in me. Thank you, school, for making me pick this up.

[Rachel Worthington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding book that will make you think long and hard about the very important role our gut microbes play in our health and what personal steps you can take to improve your own microbiota, to become a healthier person. Brilliantly written, fascinating and an important contribution to popular science writing.

[Britt Jerlinga · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most illuminating and interesting book I have read. This completely changed the way I view my diet, my health, and even how I teach biology to my students. Fascinating and highly recommended!

[Noah Goats · Rating 4 out of 5]

10% Human is written with luminous clarity, packed with provocative ideas, and loaded with fascinating facts (like the one in the title). This book has actually managed to change my view of myself, and how many books do that? I now see myself as not only a human being, but a vast habitat for billions of microbes, many of whom are my friends and allies.

Because this book is about microbes, Collen appears to view all health problems as nails to be driven in by a microbe hammer and she doesn’t always appear to give alternative views a fair airing. But even if I don’t know that I’m convinced, for example, that microbes cause autism, or if I suspect that the author may be overstating the links between microbes and the obesity epidemic, I still think there is more than enough proof to at least raise a curious eyebrow. As Collen points out, people assumed for years that ulcers were caused by stress but it was bacteria all along. There’s a lot more research to be done. What this book ultimately demonstrates is that there is a powerful link between our microbiota and our health, even if we are still struggling to understand many of the specifics of that link.

[Marie S]

I enjoyed this book, though it’s attempting to make a lot of extrapolations on research that is still new and inconclusive. You wouldn’t have much to write if you didn’t imply a lot of cause and effect where really all we have is studies done on mice. But the microbiome feels to us today like we once felt about sanitation (“pass my ungloved hand the uncleaned scalpel, doctor”). We’ll probably look back on our species in 20 and some of our behaviors with a lot of pity for all we still didn’t know about the gut microbiome.

Anyway, TLDR of the book is EAT WAY MORE FIBER THAN YOU THINK YOU NEED.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating audiobook. The science of the human biome is in its infancy so some of the information may already be outdated. Like the title. I just learned that the percentage of our human cells is actually 50%, not 10%, though that's still amazing. And that doesn't change her main message re. antibiotics, C-sections, breastfeeding, diet, and more.

I look forward to more books and articles on this interesting topic.

[Tom Oman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of information that everyone should be aware of. You are your microbiome, and the scientific community is still in the early stages of exploring the full implications of this. We have a complex balance of microbes, many of which are found nowhere else on the planet outside of our gut. This precise combination has been passed down from our mothers for millions of years and has evolved alongside us. And it is fully integrated into the functioning of our human bodies at every level. It plays an arguably larger role than any one organ, but we have been systematically destroying it over the last few generations. Antibiotics are the main culprit, but loads of medicine and inorganic compounds we eat every day are also helping. The effect is compounded with each generation as many strains go extinct. It can’t be overstated how much this has affected our collective health. Allergies, autoimmune disorders, mental health crisis, and on and on, are directly related to our damaged guts. It’s a truly mind blowing read, and I can’t recommend it enough.

[Ana Lucía Licea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro muy completo para entender el increíble universo de bacterias que llevamos en nuestro interior. Me gusta que la autora respalda su información con la referencia de su estudio científico o fuente correspondiente (como debe ser).

Toca diferentes temas, todos relacionados y orientados a concientizar al lector sobre el microbioma y la importancia de tomar decisiones informadas para buscar tener una buena salud. Sobre todo hacernos reflexionar de cómo la salud intestinal de la mujer y las decisiones (de ella y el dr) llegan a impactar más allá de nosotros, a nuestros hijos.

Excelente lectura :)

[Andra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a surprisingly good book, occasionally hard to read because of the amount and level of information, it was super informative, and I liked the way it was split, and also all the learnings that came out of it.

[Enrique Oviedo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro revelador sobre la importancia de la microbiota en nuestra salud y el impacto de sus desajustes en la obesidad, las enfermedades autoinmunes y los problemas mentales.
El castigo al que sometemos a estos microbios con el abuso de antibióticos y la falta de fibra en la alimentación tiene consecuencias que, al menos para mí, no eran conocidas.
Lectura amena, recomendable y que te deja con ganas de saber más de esos millones de seres que viven dentro de nuestros cuerpos.

[Szymon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super ciekawe jeśli kogos interesuje zdrowie i własne ciało, ale momentami para-naukowe (np. przeszczepy kału!)

„9 na 10 komórek w naszym ciele to bakterie i medycyna dopiero orientuje się, jak wielki wpływ maja na nasz organizm. Prawdodpobnie wszystkie choroby XXI wieku są efektem zmiany trybu życia który zmienił skład naszego mikrobiomu”

[Vishnu Madhu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alanna Collen is a science writer with a PhD in evolutionary biology from the University College, London, and the Zoological Society of London. In this book, she portrays in detail a wide variety of microbes and their effects on the human body. There is a lot of jargon, and although there are simplified explanations in the book, the sheer amount of explanations and examples tend to be forbearing most of the time. The exciting aspects and catchy sentences are submerged in a sea of words. Luckily, through the eight months I spent on this book (definitely due to other engagements and pure boredom), I kept highlighting interesting sentences. I present this attractive collection as a spoiler section at the end of this review.

Throughout the book, the author picks up incidents that happened to individuals (medical issues), their responses (treatments), how some of them backfired, and how better treatments evolved. So, she lists many things that were thought to be well and proper but have later turned out to be bad medical practices. She also lists medically unfettered methods with positive outcomes.

The point here is that there is a lot of data in this book, and not all of them are correct. For sure, the author mentions when an assumption is disproved or when an assumption is just that, an assumption. But the reader might be impressed by these assumptions and might cultivate a bias towards them. Thus, they might simply memorize most of the catchy points and not notice that they have been disproved or are just possibilities. So, it’s imperative not to take everything to heart and keep all the points on the table while reading this book. A good thing is that there is a coda where the author iterates the important and acceptable points in the book. To be on the safer side, I would say that everything else is prone to questioning.

You are just 10 per cent human. For every one of the cells that make up the vessel that you call your body, there are nine impostor cells hitching a ride.

With just shy of 21,000 genes, the human genome is hardly bigger than that of the worm.

Our own cells, though far larger in volume and weight, are outnumbered ten to one by the cells of the microbes that live in and on us.

Together, the microbes living on the human body contain 4.4 million genes – this is the microbiome: the collective genomes of the microbiota. These genes collaborate in running our bodies alongside our 21,000 human genes. By that count, you are just half a per cent human.

Around 75 per cent of the wet weight of faeces is bacteria; plant fibre makes up about 17 per cent.

At any one time, your gut contains about 1.5 kg of bacteria – that’s about the same weight as the liver – and the lifespans of individuals are a matter of just days or weeks.

Take a human body from 50,000 years ago and one from the 1950s, and they will look more similar to one another than either does to the average human body today. In just sixty years or so, our lean, muscular, hunter-gatherer-like physiques have been encased inside a layer of excess fat.

Every gram of carbohydrate is deemed to contribute 4 calories, every gram of fat, 9 calories, and so on.

Yogurt may well contain 137 calories for a person of normal weight, but it could also contain 140 calories for someone who is overweight, and who has a different set of gut microbes.

A person who eats very little fat would have very few microbes that are specialized for fat, and the odd doughnut or chocolate bar might make it through the large intestine without being efficiently stripped of its remaining calorific content.

In a lean person, gaining a bit of weight leads to extra leptin production, and a decrease in appetite. But in an obese person, though plenty of leptin is being produced, the brain can’t detect it and so they never feel full.

In fact, gastrointestinal symptoms are surprisingly common in people with mental health and neurological conditions, though they are usually seen as unimportant compared with the altered behaviour.

Gut microbes did not just alter physical health, but mental health as well.

It is a favourite trick of biology teachers to ask their students to hold their arms out wide, and to trace the biography of the planet across their span. At the far tip of the right hand’s middle finger lies the formation of the Earth, 4.6 billion years ago. The tip of the left hand represents the present day. It took until the elbow of the right arm for Earth’s rocks to cool, and life to begin in the form of bacteria. From these simple beginnings, it took up to a little shy of the left wrist – another 3 billion years – before the most basic of animals evolved. Mammals, in all their furry, thoughtful glory, came about just onto the left middle finger, and humans like us stepped up in the final hair’s breadth of this finger’s nail. It’s been said before: one swipe of the nail file, and all traces of our existence would vanish.

Smuggled inside (nearly) every cell of every animal are the ghosts of the very simplest of bacteria. They are your mitochondria. Mitochondria are an evolutionary signature of the earliest alliances between two organisms.

Richard Dawkins would remind us that both individual and group selection are missing the point. In his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, he argued the perspective of several prominent evolutionary biologists – that it is genes that natural selection ultimately chooses between. Bodies, he says, are mere vehicles for genes, enabling them to live an immortal existence.

Though Big Pharma has many faults of its own, ‘alternative medicine’ can best be summarised as using two kinds of treatments: those that don’t work well enough to merit the title ‘medicine’, and those that are not yet backed by scientific and clinical evidence.

For exactly the same reason as diabetics must inject insulin rather than swallowing it, gluten cannot do this. It is simply too big a protein to cross the gut wall by itself.

In the late 1940s, scientists in the US had made the accidental discovery that giving chickens antibiotics boosted their growth by as much as 50 per cent.

The little tube connecting the ear to the throat – the one that ‘pops’ with pressure changes – is nearly horizontal in babies, and steepens with age. This means that in infants, mucus does not drain into the throat as easily, and the tube tends to clog with debris.

Both colds and flu are the work of viruses, not bacteria, and antibiotics can’t touch them

We were using the same antibiotic in UK general practice that had saved so many lives in South Africa, to treat what were effectively snotty-nosed kids.

Sir Alexander Fleming, after making his discovery of penicillin, repeatedly cautioned that using too little of it, for too short a time, or without good reason, would bring about antibiotic resistance. He was right. Time and time again, bacteria evolve resistance to antibiotics. The first penicillin-resistant bacteria were discovered just a few years after penicillin was introduced. It’s as simple as this: the susceptible bacteria die, sometimes leaving behind those that have, by chance, a mutation that makes them resistant. Then, the resistant bacteria reproduce and the entire population is immune to the antibiotic.

Antibiotics cannot target a single strain of bacterium. Most are ‘broad-spectrum’ – they kill a wide range of species. Even the more targeted, ‘narrow-spectrum’ antibiotics do not select only the disease-causing bacterial strain for destruction. Any other bacteria belonging to the same family group will suffer the same fate.

Some pioneering doctors, aware of the newly discovered impact of antibiotics on the growth of livestock, tried treating premature and malnourished babies with antibiotics. For the newborns, the results were spectacular – they benefited from a boost in weight that apparently lifted them from the clutches of mortal danger.

Vegetables, though not dosed with antibiotics directly, are often grown in soil fortified with animal manure. Manure is not only a rich source of nutrients, but also of drugs – around 75 per cent of antibiotics given to animals pass straight through them. So much for using nature’s fertilizer to keep things clean and green.

When you wash your hands properly, with warm water and non-antibacterial soap, you are not getting rid of potentially harmful microbes by killing them. You are physically removing them.

One particularly common antibacterial compound, known as triclosan, has come under scrutiny in recent years. Its effects are sufficiently worrying that the governor of Minnesota has signed a bill banning its use in consumer products from 2017.

How concerning this is is still being thrashed out in the scientific literature, but what we know so far is that there’s a clear correlation between the levels of triclosan in people’s urine and the severity of their allergies

When triclosan is combined with the chlorinated water from the tap, it is converted to the carcinogen and favoured incapacitating agent of crime novelists, chloroform.

Sore throats are very often caused by members of the genus Streptococcus.

Rather than clearing up after a few weeks, the strep had triggered an autoimmune reaction which attacked a cluster of brain cells known as the basal ganglia. The basal ganglia are involved in ‘action selection’ – this part of the brain helps us to decide which of several possible simple actions we should choose to actually carry out.

Alcohol disrupts microbes on such a fundamental level that they appear not to be able to evolve resistance. What’s more, alcohol can be effective against antibiotic-resistant strains like MRSA.

Most of the smell of human sweat doesn’t actually come from the ammonia-containing fluids that our eccrine glands release, but from the apocrine glands, or scent glands. These glands, which are confined to the underarms and the groin, are all about sex. They are not even active until puberty, and the smells they produce after puberty act as pheromones, informing the opposite sex about our health and fertility status. But the sweat that the apocrine glands release is actually completely odourless. It only gains a scent when our skin microbes tuck in and convert it into a whole host of smelly volatile compounds. Exactly which scents are produced depends on the composition of the microbes you harbour

[A vicious cycle:] Soap and deodorant kill off our AOBs; no AOBs means disruption to our other skin bacteria; the altered composition means our sweat smells unpleasant; and therefore we must use soap to clean up the mess, and deodorant to mask the smell

AOBiome propose AO+ Refreshing Cosmetic Mist instead. It looks, smells and tastes just like water.

As Martin Blaser’s work on low-dose penicillin and a high-fat diet in mice suggests, antibiotics are unlikely to be the sole cause of weight gain, or of the other twenty-first-century illnesses. Diet, too, has a role to play. It’s just not the role you might expect.

During human labour and birth, the contraction-inducing hormones and the pressure of the descending baby cause most women to defecate. Babies tend to be born head first and facing towards their mum’s bottom, pausing for a moment with their heads and mouths in prime position whilst their labouring mothers wait for the next contraction to help them ease the rest of the body out. Whatever your instinctive revulsion, it’s an auspicious start. After birth, the mother’s gift of a new coat of microbes, both faecal and vaginal, makes for a simple and safe birthday suit for the newborn.

The experimental technique is simple: a small piece of gauze is inserted into the mother’s vagina an hour before she is due to go into the operating theatre. Just before the first cut is made, the gauze is removed and placed in a sterile pot. A few minutes later, when the baby is out, it is rubbed with the gauze – first in its mouth, then across its face, and then over the remainder of its body.

Oligosaccharides are carbohydrates made up of short chains of simple sugars (oligo means ‘few’). Human breast-milk contains an enormous variation of them – around 130 different kinds in all. Oligosaccharides are now known to be instrumental in encouraging the right species of microbes to bloom in the seedling gut microbiota of a baby.

Where adults need dietary fibre from plants, babies need oligosaccharides from breast-milk.

In 1913, 70 per cent of women breast-fed their own newborn. In 1972, breast-feeding reached an all-time low of just 22 per cent.

Bottled milk is, more often than not, still ‘breast’ milk, but from the breast of a cow, not a human.

Modern infant formulas are supplemented with many essential extras, but they don’t usually contain immune cells and antibodies, oligosaccharides or live bacteria.

In the past two decades breast-feeding in developed countries has continued to rise, up from around 65 per cent in 1995 to as high as 80 per cent in the past few years.

The World Health Organisation’s recommendations of six months of exclusive breast-feeding followed by breast-feeding supplemented by appropriate complementary foods for up to two years or beyond.

It’s possible that the steady decline in a person’s microbial shadow could be used to create a timeline of events reliable enough for use in forensic investigations.

During pregnancy women gain between 25 and 35 lb in weight. Roughly speaking, that includes a 7 lb baby, plus a further 8 lb of placenta, amniotic fluid and extra blood. The remaining 10 to 20 lb is fat.

In your gut are 100 trillion microbes. Among those 100 trillion microbes are perhaps 2,000 different species. And within those 2,000 species are countless different strains, all with an arsenal of different genetic capabilities.

Other animals, from lizards to elephants, indulge in coprophagy now and then. For some, like rabbits and rodents, eating their own faeces is an essential part of the diet, as it allows them to have a second go at the nutrients locked away inside plant cells once their gut microbes have cracked them open. It’s not a trivial contribution to their caloric intake, either. Rats only grow at three-quarters of the normal rate if they are prevented from eating their own poo.

[Our faeces is mostly] bacteria – around 70 per cent of it or more. The brown colour comes from the pigment from broken-down red blood cells.

A traditional Chinese medicine doctor from the fourth century by the name of Ge Hong wrote in his Handbook of Emergency Medicine that giving patients with food poisoning or severe diarrhoea a drink made from a healthy person’s stool would bring about a miraculous cure. The same treatment is mentioned 1,200 years later, again in a Chinese medical handbook, and is this time referred to as ‘yellow soup’.

Unlike in diabetics of the ‘type 1’ variety, whose insulin-producing cells have been destroyed by autoimmunity, type 2 diabetics can usually still make insulin. The trouble is, their cells don’t respond to it. Insulin is a hormone that tells the body’s cells to store glucose (sugar) in the blood as fat when it is not needed immediately for energy. Incoming glucose from food is matched by a release of insulin to keep blood glucose levels from becoming perilously high. But if levels of insulin in the blood are perpetually high, the body begins to ignore the request to store glucose. This is insulin resistance

[Prebiotics] are not live bacteria, but bacteria food, designed to enhance entire populations of the very healthiest strains.

The number of subjects across the UK reaching the grand old age of 100 each year has risen from double figures to around 10,000 people.

Through vaccinations, hygienic medical practice, water sanitation and antibiotics, we took our lives from a measly average of just thirty-one years, to double that figure. Where these four innovations are most widely available, in the developed world, our average lifespan approaches eighty years. Much of the change that granted us this mortal extension was concentrated in a period of about fifty years, from the final decade of the nineteenth century to the end of the Second World War.

If you choose to increase your fibre intake by eating more plants, it can be worth doing so slowly and steadily, to give your microbiota time to adapt. An avalanche of fibre into a gut populated by microbes more used to a diet consisting of fats, proteins and simple carbohydrates can produce some undesirable effects.

[Olli Kopakkala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Innostava kirja. Mikrobit on tärkeitä ja vaikuttaa kaikkeen. Välillä toki mentiin aika pitkälle spekulaatioissa, mutta se kuuluu asiaan tällaisissa kirjoissa, ei niitä muuten jaksa lukea.

Ja lopulta jäi konkreettisesti käteen se, että pitäisi syödä enemmän kasviksia. Varmaan alankin syömään, oli sen verran väkevää todistelua.