Publisher's Synopsis
Newly revised for 2021, the concept of the human microbiome is teaching us a new understanding of what it is to be alive, indeed to be a human being. With the shock of covid, we have begun to finally appreciate the importance of the microscopic world - albeit forcibly! Up until now your only concept of the microbiome (if you had one) would probably be limited to the bugs inside you that help your digestion. You may have heard of the subject talked about in the press as the importance of maintaining a balance of 'good' and 'bad' bacteria to ensure a healthy colon (large intestine). This is a vastly simplified version of events, primarily divulged to the public to shift 'functional foods' like yoghurt drinks and probiotic-enhanced foodstuffs which aim to restore the gut. This is a fallacy. No one product can do this, other than temporarily.When you begin to understand the nature of the trillions of microbial species that live within and on you, you will understand that they are no less than an ecosystem. The complexity and diversity is what makes us who we are - it predisposes us to health or disease depending on our interaction with this vast (1033 - that's 1000,0000000000,0000000000,0000000000) number of organisms in our air, soil and water, more than all the stars in the known universe!).My aim for this book is no less than to document a revolution in our understanding of what it means to be human. The full complexity of the microbiome (and the even more diverse virome), as it is beginning to be understood, is just such a revolution. When you understand there are more microbes than human cells (approximately 10-100x estimates vary), you realise that it isn't just something that informs our cells but it actually creates and programmes them! We are who we are because of these organisms and packets of DNA. This is a very hot topic in science right now (especially as understanding of what makes people more susceptible to disease has become so important), with a few scientists beginning to present some of the ideas to the lay public outside of the more rarefied (and seemingly impenetrable) boundaries of scientific discourse (which is primarily conducted through journals and academic books). My aim is to convey the wonder of this information by distilling the best of the current writing on the subject but through the lens of a naturopathic therapist who uses some of this understanding in my practice.As a former researcher myself, I use this training to inform my writing, but never losing sight of the essential fact that you have to make the science and art of healing interesting and, crucially, relevant to lay readers. I hope I have managed that- now the book is fully indexed as well as comprehensively referenced.
