Let Them Eat Dirt

How Microbes Can Make Your Child Healthier

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Summary

'This book might change your perspective on real cleanliness . . . and along the way help you to raise healthier kids. ' Giulia Enders, author of Gut

'A must-read for parents ... Let Them Eat Dirt takes you inside the inside tract of a child's gut, and shows you how to give kids the best immune start early in life.' William Sears, MD, co-author of The Baby Book

We all want what is best for our kids, but for years we’ve believed that microbes cause infectious diseases and have battled to keep them under control. Our modern lifestyle, with its emphasis on hyper-cleanliness, is having a negative effect on our children’s lifelong health.

In Let Them Eat Dirt, microbiologists B. Brett Finlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta explain how the trillions of microbes that live in and on our bodies influence childhood development and why an imbalance in those microbes can lead to obesity, diabetes and asthma, among other chronic conditions. With practical advice from conception through to pregnancy and beyond, this invaluable guide will help you to nurture stronger, more resilient and healthier children.

Reviews

This book might change your perspective on real cleanliness . . . and along the way help you to raise healthier kids.
Giulia Enders, author of Gut

About the authors

B. Finlay

B. Brett Finlay, PhD, is Professor of Microbiology at the University of British Columbia and has published over four hundred and fifty articles on microbes and how bacterial infections work. 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 children.

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Marie-Claire Arrieta

Marie-Claire Arrieta, PhD, has been studying how intestinal alterations lead to several immune diseases since 2007, combining her knowledge of microbes and immunology to lead a major clinical study on the role of the microbiota in asthma. A mother of two, Arrieta is a tireless advocate of using scientific knowledge to improve the health of children.