Book Review: “Your Baby’s Microbiome” is an Excellent Resource

Book Review: “Your Baby’s Microbiome” is an Excellent Resource

Your Baby’s Microbiome: The Critical Role of Vaginal Birth and Breastfeeding for Lifelong Health summarizes the latest scientific research on the benefits of vaginal birth and breastfeeding to an infant’s microbiome. Written for childbirth educators, doulas, midwives, lactation consultants, and interested parents, Your Baby’s Microbiome is packed full of detailed information on the microbial and epigenetic differences between vaginal and c-section births. For the parent debating between a scheduled c-section or vaginal birth – this book is a must read. Your Baby’s Microbiome provides all readers with the latest science – straight from the researchers – on how vaginal birth and breastfeeding are thought to influence gut microbiome establishment.   Sticks to the Data I greatly appreciated the restraint of the authors in discussing areas like water-birthing and in-caul births, where the research has not been done. They make it extremely clear that the research hasn’t been done, but then do provide thoughtful ideas from the data currently available. I find this extremely important for such a rapidly developing science. Perhaps the reason Your Baby’s Microbiome doesn’t over-reach is because the book was written from interviews with the scientists done for the documentary Microbirth. “The movie had to have one central message and we

DoggyBiome: Healthy? Sick? Young? Old? Send Us Your Dog Poop!

DoggyBiome: Healthy? Sick? Young? Old? Send Us Your Dog Poop!

DoggyBiome joins KittyBiome in identifying pet gut microbiomes and developing new therapies for our furry family members.  The world’s crappiest KICKSTARTER was funded! Looking forward to sending in my pup’s poop!   Today Mostly Microbes is thrilled to have a guest post featuring another fabulous citizen science microbiome project – DoggyBiome. Inspired by her senior dog’s ailing gut health, Holly Ganz, PhD started examining pet microbiomes. DoggyBiome has a database of healthy wild and domesticated dogs to compare your dog’s microbiome to. As more people sequence both healthy and sick pets of all ages, identifying problems in the gut microbiome communities can lead to treatments both now and in the future. To get your dog or cat’s microbiome sequenced, check out AnimalBiome where screening services are currently half-price. Follow DoggyBiome and KittyBiome on twitter for sales and updates. Let me know if you participated and what you thought. 

Antibiotic Awareness Week 2016 – Some Resources

Antibiotic Awareness Week 2016 – Some Resources

The World Health Organization declared November 14-20, 2016 as Antibiotic Awareness Week to highlight the importance of safely using antibiotics to limit the spread of antibiotic resistance.  This week, Antibiotic Awareness Week 2016, I’ll be highlighting some great resources and fabulous work being done to try to save us from an “Antibiotic Winter” – a time when bacteria cannot be killed by our strongest antibiotics. If you’ve ever questioned the evolution of antibiotic resistance or how quickly it can happen, watch this amazing video below. Each rectangle on the plate is an increasing concentration of antibiotic. In TWO WEEKS the bacteria are resistant to the strongest dose (100,000 times the starting concentration). If you are interested in an EXCELLENT general book about the problem – read Missing Microbes by Martin Blazer, see my posts below for more details and links to his talks.

“Gut Check:The Microbiome Game” the Reprinting!

“Gut Check:The Microbiome Game” the Reprinting!

Professionally printed version of Gut Check:The Microbiome Game available as a promotion for a limited time from Qiagen. Fecal transplant? Plasmids? Nosocomial Infections? Microbiome? Whether you’re teaching microbiology or just interested in a fun, biologically correct game for family game night, Gut Check is your game. Available for a year or so as a PDF printable, Gut Check has been revised and as is available for purchase through MOBIO for a limited time. >UPDATED 5/6/21 – Pre-printed copies of Gut Check are offered as promotional material from Qiagen. Please see the PDF printable link if you would like to download and print your own copy!< Gut Check: The Microbiome Game Overview For the uninitiated  uncolonized, Gut Check is a board game about the microbes living in your gut and how different life events affect the microbes and your health. I reviewed the game in 2015, so check that post for details. In summary, players start with a positive gut score and attempt to build their beneficial microbiome and reap its benefits while avoiding antibiotics and pathogens. Events in the game include everything from bus trips and going to work sick to eating veggie-filled pizza and synthesizing vitamins. Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance

FDA Bans Antiseptics: One Small Step for Bacteria and Humankind

FDA Bans Antiseptics: One Small Step for Bacteria and Humankind

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned 19 antiseptic chemicals from over-the-counter soaps, hand and body washes. Citing concerns over long-term human safety and increased selection for antibiotic resistance, the FDA banned antiseptic chemicals on September 2, 2016. Antimicrobial washes also didn’t perform better than standard soap and water [1, 2]. Despite these findings and concerns, toothpaste, “First aid antiseptics”, antiseptic wipes, health care antiseptics, consumer antiseptic rubs, or antiseptics used by food industry CAN continue to use these 19 antiseptic chemicals [3-5]. Triclosan and triclocarban found in products including mouthwash, toothpaste, soaps, shoes, and toys, are two well-known antibiotics now banned from use in washes.