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

First book I’ve ever read where I felt deeply compelled (even responsible) to share the health affirming lessons learned with close friends and family. And its young Brit author can really hack a sentence to boot. Is it possible to pull off another miracle like this one? Heard her on a podcast say her next book will cover obesity.

10% Human is a book that focuses on the intricate relationship between microorganisms and the human body. The author provides a good background into the body’s dependence on a healthy microbiome. The author reminds us that we have evolved together for thousands of years, pointing out that it is the diversity of these microorganisms in and on our bodies that complete us as humans. There is numerous scientific research documented and personal experiences as well to further enhance your understanding. Each chapter is a different topic of an illness or health conditioned such as autism, obesity, autoimmune diseases, or gastrointestinal health issues, and how they linked to our microbes.The author poses questions as to why, with our clean improved standard of life, are new diseases and conditions on the rise. Obesity, autoimmune diseases, and allergies are explained as the new epidemics of the western world. For example, the author points out the correlation between the increase of people with allergies and the advancement of developed countries and hygiene practices. The idea is that people who grew up in the most developed parts of the world and therefore have access to the best medical care have fewer infections, but more severe allergies to things like pollen, gluten, and peanuts. People who have had more infections such as measles or chicken pox have little to no allergies. In people with allergies it is thought that the immune system, with no constant invader to fight off, becomes over reactive to anything in the body that is foreign.Of course there is the modern day gastrointestinal health issues more and more people are experiencing today. We have forgotten to take care of our friends in the gut that help us digest and absorb nutrients from our food. Perhaps the gut plays a bigger role in mental and physical health than previously thought in the medical world. The book goes into depth about obesity and certain species living in our guts that either promote lean body mass or obesity. There are examples of severe issues that arise from overuse of antibiotics that eventually cause worse health issues. For people in dire straits, some physicians are working to put fecal donor banks together, where people who are screened to donate healthy stools can donate a poop sample. People in need of a healthy gut can sign up to get a donation. Maybe this will be a common health service in the future.The vaginal birth versus the Caesarean (C-section) is mentioned in lengthy detail. The author points out numerous studies and correlations between 21st century illnesses and C-section babies. While informing the readers that it is the natural passage of the baby through the birth canal where the inoculation occurs. There the baby will receive the important species of microorganisms that it will need to grow and survive outside the mother’s body. The importance of natural breast milk is also mentioned, and that there is no formula on the market that will provide the essential microorganisms that we need to have passed down from our mothers. The main idea to take away is that we should be paying a lot more attention to the state of our natural microbiome to prevent illness and acquire better health. It is quite an eye opener to see that microbes have a larger impact on our health than what is generally thought to be. We know this to be true with animals such as cows, horses, bats, and insects. Why not humans? After reading this book, you will come away with a different perspective about your health and how your body functions.

I must confess that I have owned this book for a number of years but lost it in the shuffle of life without reading it....... But I rediscovered it at a timely moment for myself and am most grateful of its information. As a recent retiree from the healthcare industry I have seen firsthand many of the outcomes discussed in these pages. More than ever the study and use of microbial assistance , cultivation and protection are needed to allow all individual the ability to proactively support their own health over the entire lifespan. The information within these pages will give solid foundation for beginning that course of self education. Take advantage of this opportunity and acquire this for you home library.You will not be disappointed!

When I was a grad student doing Oceanic microbiology, the emerging science of the human microbiome and how important they are to our physical and mental health was emerging. The author does a fantastic job in taking this complex scientific field and explaining it in a way they is easy to understand for everyone. This book may even help you on your way to better health for you and your current and future children for the rest of your livesEvery choice we make, from choosing a C-section over vaginal birth, breast milk over formula, that hamburger over a salad, and even pushing your family doctor to give your child antibiotics for the sniffles, can have serious implications for yours and your child's health, causing people to become fatter and sicker the more antibiotics and poor health choices we make, because we destroy the microcosm in our digestive systems. They play an important factor in mental health too, where some parasitic bacteria from our beloved pets can cause depression or schizophrenia in us. The research emerging from this book shows that our obsession with sterility and antibiotics, NOT vaccines may be the key links to why now more children than ever suffer from allergies to nuts and autism, with research showing that restoring microbial communities in children actually help improve symptoms of autism.

This book is incredible. It really digs into scientific studies and examines how the human microbiome functions and impacts the body. It is not an instructional book on how to eat for your gut, you will need to find recipes elsewhere. Nonetheless it will give you a deep understanding of how the body and microbes work together which is essential to making beneficial, permanent changes.

Such a good flow - highly engaging and so interesting. I have found myself recommending this book to many people and IMO stands above the other microbiome books out there. The writer is an evolutionary biologist, and you can tell you are engaging in material that is a passionate and lifelong interest and it shows.

This is a wonderful book which is easy to read and understand. It is extremely important for the basic understanding of health, ill health, and the environment, especially at the present time and for the future.

good read

I like this book very much. I wish the type font was a bit larger for easier reading. I have the paperback version. I like the appendix of her book very much too - About the Author, About writing the book, Interviews and Dr. Collen's favourite books, as well as an excerpt from her next book which I am looking forward to very much.He next book is called Fatology: Why Obesity Is Not Just About Eating and Exercise. Microbiome research is very exciting. I'm looking for the research on how to reverse obesity in humans by correctly feeding our gut microbiome.

Excellent book; extremely well written, truly insightful cover to cover, worth the read. Thank you so much Alanna, well done.

I have to say that this is the most interesting, eye-opening book I have read in several years. The relationship between antibiotics, the bugs living in our large intestines and the human immune system is documented in the book. Well worth reading.