It’s difficult to overestimate the role that microbes and immune processes play in shaping the human physiology. Over the past couple of decades, it has become increasingly clear that the microbiome is at the center of human health and well-being, in the sense that our health status is largely determined by the composition and workings […]
Microbiome
How Fermented Vegetables Can Help You Safely Get Through the Holidays
The Christmas season is something a lot of people look forward to and enjoy. It’s not all bliss and prosperity though. As everyone who celebrates Christmas knows, the festivities come with side effects, many of which are related to our health and well-being. Christmas is notorious for being hard on our bodies! It’s difficult to […]
Ask Eirik: Did Our Hunter-Gatherer Forebears Eat Fermented Foods?
In several of my articles on fermented foods, I’ve stated that our preagricultural ancestors consumed primarily fresh foods, as opposed to fermented ones, and that I think we would be wise to follow in their footsteps. I strongly believe that people who harbor a dysbiotic gut microbiota can benefit from consuming small-moderate quantities of certain […]
The First Ever Clinical Study on Fermented Vegetables and Irritable Bowel Syndrome
I came up with the idea for, and was in charge of planning and conducting, what is to my knowledge the first ever clinical research study that has looked into the efficacy of fermented vegetables in the treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). The study, which was recently published in the journal Food & Function, […]
Ask Eirik: Should I Consume Fermented Vegetables?
Fermented vegetables are high on the list of things I’ve received the most questions about from readers of Darwinian-Medicine.com. That’s not particularly surprising, seeing as I have talked a lot about fermented vegetables in relation to gut health and microbiome restoration here on the site; was in charge of planning and conducting the first ever […]
Odorous Microbes: How Your Microbiome Affects What You Smell Like
Human body odor formation is greatly affected by the structure and actions of human-associated microbial communities (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). In other words, the trillions of microorganisms that colonize your body greatly influence what you smell like. You have a unique body odor, in part because you have a unique microbiota, which is shaped […]
Obesogenic Gut Bugs: How Bacteria Can Make Us Fat
The microbiome and the brain are the chief regulators of adiposity and eating behavior in humans. In many respects, the microbiome is even more important than the brain. Obviously, it’s the processes of the brain that ultimately shape our thoughts and behavior. What’s important to recognize though, is that these processes, in turn, are greatly […]
Ask Eirik: How Can I Rebuild My Microbiome After a Course of Antibiotics?
All of the antibiotic substances that we humans have infused into our bodies and our environment over the most recent centuries have dramatically altered our relationship with microbes. We’re now in the midst of a pandemic of inflammation-related, chronic illness. Our reckless, widespread use of antibiotics has most certainly contributed to causing this dire situation. […]
Fix Your Diet. Fix Your Microbiome.
Your health is intertwined with the health of your microbiota. If your microbiota is diverse, resilient, and dominated by bacteria that agree with your biology, then that means that you possess a natural defense against diabetes, colon cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, and a plethora of other diseases and health problems. Unless you’ve […]
Do We Really Need to Brush Our Teeth?
Many diseases and health problems that we – contemporary humans – consider to be largely unavoidable, such as acne vulgaris, a skin disorder that afflicts more than 90% of the adolescent population in some westernized countries, and malocclusion, a very common condition nowadays that is characterized by a misalignment of the upper and lower jaw, […]