Hey Everyone - originally I didn't include the references but they are now added to this post. Books link to Bookshop.org and articles to sources which provide free PDF versions. Let me know if anyone has trouble accessing. - Cheers
Very interesting! Have you guys ever heard of Helminthic therapy? I’m soon about to embark on a personal trial of this. Lots of good studies regarding it, especially in Australia. It’s basically infecting (? maybe not the right word!) yourself with hookworms, the idea being that we’ve evolved with these and due to modern sanitation/diet we have eliminated them from our bodies and this may be the reason for all the auto immune diseases that abound these days.
Super interesting. I hadn't heard of it until just now. It reminds me of a book I read a number of years ago though, about using maggots to clean wounds, and other alternatives that where from ancient practices, that this book argued had some merit to real healing in this day and age.
Ooooh maggots… lovely haha. Do you remember the book title? And didn’t they use leaches for all sorts of things too. Regarding the hookworm treatments, because it’s not the sort of thing the FDA etc approves of it’s all these people self administering and they even source their worms from quite secretive sellers. But the list of personal stories and the health problems they are helping with is really worth a quick look:
Turns out it is still on my shelf. Honey, Mud, Maggots, and other Medical Marvels: The science behind folk remedies and old wives' tales by Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein -- form 1997 ooph. That is a harsh reminder of how long ago. 😂
This is really great information - first off thank you for sharing it. I have 2 questions: First, if we want to test our own gut to see how much "diversity" we have, do you have any recommendations for which tests are best? In other words, how can I get more objective information on how my gut is doing? Second question: from my own personal experience, I believe that when I fast, my gut does a bit of house cleaning, and they get things "back in line" somehow. I'm new to this forum, but I wonder if you have any background or data on any things related to fasting and how it impacts gut health. Thank you!!
Welcome Jered. Kirsten and I did the American Gut nearly 6 years ago and honestly could make heads nor tails of the results. I am sure its come a long way https://microsetta.ucsd.edu/ but I don't have recommendations. Maybe someone else in the community has more recent experience. On your second question about IF that has been my experience as well. On the research side there are a lot of papers on IF with many different factors being studied, from how it affects diabetes to obesity to IBS, etc. It would probably make a great future newsletter. In the mean time I am in the middle of the following, which isn't exactly a meta-analysis but its a great review of many different papers on the topic and might be a great place to start. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-nutr-071816-064634?rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dpubmed&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&url_ver=Z39.88-2003
Hey Everyone - originally I didn't include the references but they are now added to this post. Books link to Bookshop.org and articles to sources which provide free PDF versions. Let me know if anyone has trouble accessing. - Cheers
Very interesting! Have you guys ever heard of Helminthic therapy? I’m soon about to embark on a personal trial of this. Lots of good studies regarding it, especially in Australia. It’s basically infecting (? maybe not the right word!) yourself with hookworms, the idea being that we’ve evolved with these and due to modern sanitation/diet we have eliminated them from our bodies and this may be the reason for all the auto immune diseases that abound these days.
Super interesting. I hadn't heard of it until just now. It reminds me of a book I read a number of years ago though, about using maggots to clean wounds, and other alternatives that where from ancient practices, that this book argued had some merit to real healing in this day and age.
Ooooh maggots… lovely haha. Do you remember the book title? And didn’t they use leaches for all sorts of things too. Regarding the hookworm treatments, because it’s not the sort of thing the FDA etc approves of it’s all these people self administering and they even source their worms from quite secretive sellers. But the list of personal stories and the health problems they are helping with is really worth a quick look:
https://helminthictherapywiki.org/wiki/Helminthic_therapy_personal_stories
Turns out it is still on my shelf. Honey, Mud, Maggots, and other Medical Marvels: The science behind folk remedies and old wives' tales by Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein -- form 1997 ooph. That is a harsh reminder of how long ago. 😂
Excellent article! Looking forward to this blog.
Thanks Melissa, more coming, either Covid and Ferments or Fermented Oats, how does one choose?
Great post
Thanks Norman, I'm glad you liked it. More to come.
This is really great information - first off thank you for sharing it. I have 2 questions: First, if we want to test our own gut to see how much "diversity" we have, do you have any recommendations for which tests are best? In other words, how can I get more objective information on how my gut is doing? Second question: from my own personal experience, I believe that when I fast, my gut does a bit of house cleaning, and they get things "back in line" somehow. I'm new to this forum, but I wonder if you have any background or data on any things related to fasting and how it impacts gut health. Thank you!!
Welcome Jered. Kirsten and I did the American Gut nearly 6 years ago and honestly could make heads nor tails of the results. I am sure its come a long way https://microsetta.ucsd.edu/ but I don't have recommendations. Maybe someone else in the community has more recent experience. On your second question about IF that has been my experience as well. On the research side there are a lot of papers on IF with many different factors being studied, from how it affects diabetes to obesity to IBS, etc. It would probably make a great future newsletter. In the mean time I am in the middle of the following, which isn't exactly a meta-analysis but its a great review of many different papers on the topic and might be a great place to start. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-nutr-071816-064634?rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dpubmed&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&url_ver=Z39.88-2003
Fantastic post
Thank you Joann, let me know if there is a topic you would like to see covered in 2021