Dark Matter: The New Science of the Microbiome

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In this ground-breaking book, surgeon and expert on the microbiome, James Kinross, takes us on a guided tour of our extraordinary inner universe, showing how our relationship with microbes may hold the key to why we are increasingly succumbing to diseases and conditions such as cancer, Alzheimer's, autoimmune conditions and allergies. Mass health conditions now making optimal health care unaffordable even in the richest societies are preventable, mostly at vastly lower cost. Today, I am driven by the idea that the rise in the collection of disabling chronic diseases has been caused, over just eight decades, by the radical disruption to the colonies of microorganisms that live in and around us. Of course I was aware of some work on the gut microbiome and the ‘hygiene hypothesis’ linking the epidemic of allergic and other diseases to decreasing contact with microorganisms and their products.

Whether you're a health professional, a young parent, or simply someone interested in the future of healthcare, this book is a must-read. it not only helps us digest and absorb our food and metabolise vitamins, minerals and medicines, but it also has a key role to play in our immune system. The audiobook version I have was also read by the author; which is a nice touch that I always appreciate. They can make us depressed, make us crave certain foods, and can cause or prevent many chronic diseases and other health conditions.The global pandemic of non-infectious diseases is, arguably, a greater threat to humanity than that caused by any communicable disease. More and more we are learning about the importance of our gut, Kinross takes the even more complex science of microbiome and explains in a way that is easy to understand. Dietary and lifestyle changes in westernised societies which seemed a good, convenient, palatable (and, boy oh boy, profitable) idea at the time now emerge as causes of a mass of chronic diseases and damaging health conditions. As I lay debilitated and miserable in hospital, I told myself the surgeon hadn’t removed anything vital, just a functionless relic. Having been nurtured with the idea that microbes are bad, keeping bleach, antibacterial sprays and handwash around and washing hands after handling soil or pets, this book comes as a shock.

He oscillates between over simplified (and occasionally unsuitable) analogies and paragraphs that probably need first year undergraduate knowledge to understand fully on the first read.Clearly, diet is a major driver too and in America and Europe, we now eat a kind of globalised, processed, white, gloopy diet which is very low in plant-based fibres and very high in animal fats and refined sugars.