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An Epidemic Of Absence: A New Way Of Understanding Allergies And Autoimmune Diseases (2012)

by Moises Velasquez-Manoff(Favorite Author)

4.24 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1439199388 (ISBN13: 9781439199381)

languge

English

genre

Food & Cookbooks

publisher

Scribner

review 1: It took me a few months to finish this provocative book, only because there was so much to think about as I was reading it. This book is dense with scientific findings - it may be challenging for someone who has no previous exposure to science, but it is a VIB (Very Important Book). I'm hoping to reread it soon. I'm taking an online course on the microbiome this fall and will have more thoughts during/after the course... Shelved under "paradigm shifters."
review 2: This book took me quite a long time to read and my pet name for it became "Worms and Germs." Overall, I enjoyed the read and thought parts of it were fascinating, but at times the scientific writing was just too technical for me (and I'm a girl who loves good science writing). A little more layman'... mores language would have been helpful.The basic premise of this book is that our immune system evolved over many thousands of years to interact with certain bacterias and helminths (worms) and in their absence in our modern world we've seen a whole host of autoimmune problems including allergies, asthma, MS, cancer, developmental disorders, etc. The author reviews study after study that demonstrates how worms or microbiota in our guts helped us stave off other problems. Now, the author does go the extra length of purposely infecting himself with worms in Mexico at the beginning of the book; he almost lost me there but I hung in.I wish that I had more medical knowledge so I could better evaluate everything I was reading; it seemed like a compelling argument. If only I had been tending pigs or infected with worms while pregnant with Darwin maybe he wouldn't have food allergies:) less

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