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LET THEM EAT DIRT Paperback – January 1, 2016
Purchase options and add-ons
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherGreystone Books
- Publication dateJanuary 1, 2016
- Dimensions5.31 x 0.87 x 8.5 inches
- ISBN-100099510960
- ISBN-13978-0099510963
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- Publisher : Greystone Books; Uncorrected Proof edition (January 1, 2016)
- Language : English
- ISBN-10 : 0099510960
- ISBN-13 : 978-0099510963
- Item Weight : 11.3 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.31 x 0.87 x 8.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #988,777 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,770 in Motherhood (Books)
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Many people will just see the title and see that it's written by PhD holders, and take it at that. I've certainly observed people doing this.
I can post citations in the comments for anything in this review if anyone wants.
To start off they are working on the premise that the infant gut is sterile and is populated from the environment - ie: poor sanitation/hygiene. This is still being researched and may be false.
Starts off with the farm environment example (less asthma when growing up on farm) - being in that environment is not the same as eating dirt or practicing poor hygiene. Jumping to conclusions based on correlations.
Pretty much just misattributing missing microbes from antibiotic use, poor diet, lack of breast feeding & possibly vaginal births, and unhealthy people having kids (generational compounding), to good hygiene.
Low quality anecdotes regarding the farm kids being unsanitary - so how are we supposed to judge whether this helped or harmed them? We're presented with no information about their health.
"Dirt is a known source of pathogens, toxins, and even lead". - direct quote.
Says "it's not the c-section itself causing the disorders associated with it, but rather the lack of exposure to mother's vaginal & anal microbes". - more jumping to conclusions.
Acknowledges environmental microbes are very different from mom's [host-native] microbes.
Comparison of children living a rual lifestyle in Burkina Faso, West Africa, to urban, city-dwelling kids in Italy. Diet vastly different. Gut microbiota of the Africans was more diverse, but they were more likely to suffer severe infections and malnutrition (caused by gut dysbiosis), and have lower life-expectancy. But have decreased risk of suffering from immune diseases.
States that it appears that children who adopt an "adult-like" gut microbiome earlier have poorer health. This seems to contradict the "eat dirt".
As does the admission that most antibiotics are/were derived from soil bacteria.
Admits that dogs can pass on diseases to their owners.
Admits that the first hygienic methods were very successful in reducing infectious diseases and deaths by promoting washing the sick, along with their bed linens and their rooms.
"Spectacular drop in childhood mortality from following hygienic practices". - direct quote.
"Handwashing is, without a doubt, the best hygienic practice that we can follow to prevent contracting and spreading infectious diseases. It’s been shown time and again that communities with good handwashing practices stay healthier, and no one should stop washing their hands just to promote more exposure to microbes." - then goes on to, in my opinion, be contradicting, and make poor, unsupported statements.
"it pays to follow hygienic practices in order to reduce the risk of infection in heavily populated areas. This means that it’s a good idea to teach your children not to play on the floor in these places, nor to lick any surfaces, and to wash their hands (with regular soap and water) when they get home or before eating" - direct quote.
Admits that fresh vegetables & fruits have a serious risk that ought to be reduced by following hygienic practices.
"there’s no better way to influence the development of a diverse microbiota than through diet. Offering a healthy diet rich in vegetables and fiber is probably even more important than not being overly clean with babies and children." - direct quote.
Gives example of environmental microbes (dirt) causing a severe illness (malnutrition).
Colic example may also be caused by environmental microbes/pathogens.
Hutterite vs Amish example shows that it's not just as simple as "eat dirt" or "grow up in farm environment".
"Some studies show that occasional visits to farms may actually exacerbate any pre-existing allergy tendencies" - direct quote.
The “eat dirt” thing seems similar to certain anti-vax sentiments, in that people have forgotten how prolific certain microbial illnesses used to be (and still are in many 3rd world countries due to poor sanitation).
While there are a lot of similarities in the information shared, the latter is more detailed, quotes more studies and gives wider information.
I enjoyed the story of a mum telling her little daughter about all the tiny little microbes in her tummy and how important it is for her to look after them well by eating the right foods. Seems like a good idea to encourage kids to eat more healthy fruit and veg.
The chapter on breast milk barely touched the topic which made my wonder why bother at all. It also concluded that formula feeding might be a "societal necessity".
The chapter on vaccines was largely an opinion piece that quotes one study and mentions no other data, surveillance reports or risk benefit analyses but advises that you should vaccinate your kids anyways.
The information on Wakefield is very poorly researched if not simply parroted whats been said in a media without verifying the information. This for example:
"The media picked up the story and very rapidly the rates of vaccination dropped, resulting in a jump in a measles and mumps cases, along with the deaths and long term damage associated with those diseases".
I checked the surveillance records on UK.GOV website and here is what the measles infections and deaths were like 4 years prior and 4 years after the study was published:
1994 16,375 0
1995 7,447 1
1996 5,614 0
1997 3,962 3
1998 3,728 3
1999 2,438 3
2000 2,378 1
2001 2,250 1
2002 3,232
How do you conduct a thorough research while omitting the source?
In overall I found "the Human Superorganism to be much better written book, so consider that one before purchasing.









