It’s a bustling community of trillions of bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses, containing at least 150 times more genes than the human genome. Gut microbes do things the gut can’t do, liberating or synthesising nutrients from food, especially from plants and their polyphenols, living off non-digestible substrates, producing thousands of metabolites – useful chemicals –and making vital short-chain fatty acids that are involved with immunity, with keeping the gut and colon healthy, with moderating the body’s inflammatory responses and with the metabolism of glucose. If you want to learn more about what’s going on in your gut, the first step is to turn your poo blue. More and more we are learning about the importance of our gut, Kinross takes the even more complex science of microbiome and explains in a way that is easy to understand.

Dark Matter: 9780241543979 - AbeBooks Dark Matter: 9780241543979 - AbeBooks

A “hospital-acquired infection”, this disease is a complication of 20th-century medicine and an unintended consequence of Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin, the first effective mass-produced antibiotic, in 1928.To help persuade you that this might not be such a terrible idea, I’ll tell you the tale of a patient. The microbiome is the missing link in modern medicine, a vast genetic universe of 'dark matter' - bacteria, yeasts, viruses and parasites - that lives inside us. It is given to us by our mothers at birth, adapts with us as we age, influences our moods, determines how fast we run and even who we choose as a partner. We celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories, traditions and living cultures; and we pay our respects to Elders past and present. Some studies use friends and families, others use members of staff, volunteers or “pooled” samples taken from lots of donors mixed together.

Dark Matter by James Kinross | Goodreads Dark Matter by James Kinross | Goodreads

Whether you're a health professional, a young parent, or simply someone interested in the future of healthcare, this book is a must-read. There are lots of confusing pieces of dietary advice for people as to what to eat,” says Dr Kinross. An effective treatment for a whole raft of diseases, from irritable bowel syndrome to arthritis and even Alzheimer’s, comes from the most unlikely of sources – human poo.As with an organ donation, donors have to be carefully screened to make sure they don’t harbour transmittable diseases or parasites. It’s also becoming clear that samples from some donors are much more effective than those from others. And, for all that the internet may be full of probiotic or wellness companies making big health claims about gut health, “We don’t really know how it works,” he says. From a world-leading microbiome scientist and surgeon with over two decades of experience comes Dark Matter - the definitive book on the science of the microbiome and how unlocking its potential can protect our health, our immunity and our planet. Tumeric, ginger, and other species are recommended but they’re not a panacea for a healthy gut,” says Dr Kinross.