Overview

In the two-hundred years since we discovered that microbes cause infectious diseases, we've battled to keep them at bay. But a recent explosion of scientific knowledge has led to undeniable evidence that early exposure to these organisms is beneficial to our children's well-being. Our current emphasis on hyper-cleanliness is taking a toll on our children's lifelong health. This engaging and important book explains how the millions of microbes that live in our bodies influence childhood development; why an imbalance in those microbes can lead to obesity, diabetes, asthma, autism, and reactions to vaccines, among other chronic conditions; and how--from conception on--parents can positively impact their own behaviors and those of their children. It describes how natural childbirth, breastfeeding, and solid foods influence children's microbiota and offers practical advice on whether to sterilize food implements for babies, the use of antibiotics, and why having pets is a good idea.

Full Product Details

9781665113694

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Marie-Claire Arrieta, PhD, has been studying how intestinal alterations lead to several immune diseases since 2007. She has worked in the Finlay lab as a postdoctoral fellow for four years. During that time she has established herself as an outstanding researcher in the field of microbiota. Claire has combined her knowledge of microbes and immunology to lead a major clinical study on the role of the microbiota in asthma. She played a central role in building the bioinformatics techniques needed to analyze the microbiota from these clinical studies and has demonstrated that certain species of the intestinal microbiota from three-month-old children determine whether that child will succumb to asthma later in life. This seminal finding is a major reason for this book, as scientists in many other fields are now starting to realize that the early life microbiota plays a major role in diseases that present many years later. A mother of two, Claire is a tireless advocate of using scientific knowledge to improve the health of children. B. Brett Finlay, OC, PhD, is professor of microbiology at the University of British Columbia and a world leader in how bacterial infections work. He has been studying microbes for over thirty years and has published over 450 articles. Also a founder of the biotech companies Inimex, Vedanta, and Microbiome Insights, Brett is Officer of the Order of Canada-the highest Canadian civilian recognition. He lives in Vancouver, BC, with his wife, who is a pediatrician, and has two grown-up kids. Chris Sorensen is the AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator of Brian Lies' Bats at the Beach, Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin, and Margaret Peterson Haddix's Sent. Other narrations include Patricia Wood's Lottery and Jodi Picoult's Songs of the Humpback Whale, among many others.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available