The Great Microbiome Desert

Compared to human populations following hunter-gatherer lifestyles, we have lost hundreds of microbial species in our gastrointestinal microbiomes. Many of these species performed useful functions in human health that we have therefore lost. Loss of these species has also allowed unhealthy, potentially pathogenic species, to proliferate and dominate, even ascending up the small intestine. This situation--small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO--is now epidemic, affecting greater than 1...