Got you didn't i? :)

I've been doing a lot of research on various nutrition aspects with relationship to obesity over the past couple of years... it's turned into a bit of a hobby of mine.

It's taking me down some interesting paths - I mean clearly we're collectively doing *something* wrong as rates of obesity climb, even though nobody wants to be obese.  There's just something wrong with the big picture... so I'm trying to understand why... 

The more I look the more the evidence seems to be pointing toward modern food production.  I don't mean that there's anything evil afoot... just that the further away from natural hunting/gathering/small farm production we get, the worse off we seem to be.  

That's my generalization - there are hundreds and thousands of articles that seem to generally point in this direction - from the Primal/Paleo communities, to the processed foods critics like Taubes, to additive/pesticide/toxin critics, organic food supporters, grass-fed beef fans, etc... The common thread with all seems to be getting back to eating as close to naturally (defined differently by some, but common threads and many overlaps between groups).

Now comes this thread.  Dirt.  We don't eat enough of it, some are positing.  Couple that thought with the increase in antibacterial products (recently criticized heavily by the FDA - if the FDA finally gets around to criticizing something you can figure it must be pretty bad).  In our quest for cleanliness and sterility we may have thrown the good bacteria out with the bad, and left our bodies and digestion the poorer for it.

Animals don't scrub their food clean before eating - they get a healthy dose of dirt, with lots of beneficial organisms along for the ride, it turns out...  Anyway here's an interesting article on the subject of "healthy soil" - bon appetit!  (Link to full article here)

The Surprising Healing Qualities ... of Dirt

A doctor discovers exposure to healthy farm soil holds keys to healthy bodies.   Excerpt:

...I’m discovering just how much this rich, dark substance [soil] influences the day-to-day health of my patients. I’m even beginning to wonder whether Hippocrates was wrong, or at least somewhat misguided, when he proclaimed, “Let food be thy medicine.” Don’t get me wrong—food is important to our health. But it might be the soil where our food is grown, rather than the food itself, that offers us the real medicine.

...you will uncover a small, but growing, collection of research that paints soil in a very different light. These studies suggest that soil, or at least some types of soil, can be beneficial to our health.

 

 

The scientists investigating this soil-health connection are a varied bunch—botanists, agronomists, ecologists, geneticists, immunologists, microbiologists—and collectively they are giving us new reasons to care about the places where our food is grown.

Lively soil, better food

For example, using DNA sequencing technology, agronomists at Washington State University have recently established that soil teeming with a wide diversity of life (especially bacteria, fungi, and nematodes) is more likely to produce nutrient-dense food. Of course, this makes sense when you understand that it is the cooperation between bacteria, fungi, and plants’ roots (collectively referred to as the rhizosphere) that is responsible for transferring carbon and nutrients from the soil to the plant—and eventually to our plates.

Given this nutrient flow from soil microbes to us, how can we boost and diversify life in the soil? Studies consistently show that ecological farming consistently produces a greater microbial biomass and diversity than conventional farming. Ecological farming (or eco-farming, as my farmer friends call it) includes many systems (biodynamic, regenerative, permaculture, full-cycle, etc.) that share core holistic tenets: protecting topsoil with cover crops and minimal plowing, rotating crops, conserving water, limiting the use of chemicals (synthetic or natural), and recycling all animal and vegetable waste back into the land. Much of this research supports what traditional farmers around the world have long known to be true: the more ecologically we farm, the more nutrients we harvest.

...

Excellent post and article!

I grew up on a horse farm and we did have a 20x40 garden. Long story short, I grew up grubby. I think of myself as pretty healthy with few colds, perhaps one per year and the rare stomach bug once every few years at most.

My theory has long matched what this doc is saying. I really think that being outside, getting dirty, etc. has helped me to be healthier in the long run. What I have noticed is that as I have gotten further away from digging in the dirt (I used to have a garden but haven't had it for a few years now) when I do get sick, it is more severe. Colds turn into bronchitis.

This is a good reason for me to be planning my 2014 garden, I think. It is also really good motivation for continuing our whole eating and staying away from big agri to the greatest extent possible. Perhaps this is the nudge I need to look into our local CSA as well.

Merry Christmas!
Laurie

Laurie, CSA's are marvelous!  They give you the chance to try food that you never would have bought in the grocery store.  I'm lucky that I live in Minnesota during the summer months, and there are 2 CSAs that deliver right to my door, plus there's a farmer's market twice a week!  My favorite CSA farmer does the farmer's market as well, and we've developed a relationship over the years, even though I don't buy a CSA share anymore (even 1/2 a share was too much for 1 person to eat).  It's wonderful to actually meet the farmer that grows the food, the baker that makes the bread, or the rancher that raises your meat!

I agree with everything that's said in the article snippet you posted.  There is an overwhelming body of evidence that points to the importance of the microbiota that live in us and on us in the maintenance of general health, not just microbes from the soil.  The obsession we have with keeping everything so sterile and clean is actually hurting us more than it's helping us.  I had my students read this article earlier in the year when we were studying ecology:

http://www.actionbioscience.org/genomics/the_human_microbiom e.html

It's a great article that discusses some of the research that's been done and that is being done that illustrates how important all the microbes that share our bodies with us are to our overall health. 

Then a friend sent me this video version of pretty much the same article (if you don't want to read the whole thing, it's a good summary):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QytCbgdFFvg&feature=player_em bedded

My students were amazed at how things that were so tiny and invisible to them could influence so much.  I think it would do all of us some good to learn about why the little guys who live on us/in us are so important to us!

Awesome stuff, thank you!

I'm also reading about an area of nutrition called "Resistant Starch" that seems to be sweeping through some corners of the paleo community.  It's really a 3rd kind of fiber - it isn't digested, but passes through to the large intestine, where our little symbiotic bacteria feed on it and generate wonderful things for our health...  

Just curious - but are your students interested in the fact that you're "disappearing" in front of their eyes? 

Tom

You bet...I am always glad to share biology stuff. :)

That "resistant starch" sounds interesting.  Wonder what kind of carbs they are?  Oligosaccharides, maybe?  We humans don't have a lot of enzymes that break down those short chain carbs, which is why the little guys in our guts do it for us, with fun and odorous consequences after the fact.

You know, I told my students at the beginning of the year that periodically I would need to eat in class (a no-no in science lab) because I eat small meals through the day.  I explained to them that my stomach had been reduced to the size of a banana, and that as a result, they would see me getting smaller as the year went on.  I wanted them to know up front because I didn't want them to think I was ill or wasting away--you know how rumors go in schools!  I don't think they really notice much!  But it's okay.  I did have a kid interview me for a project she is doing in her English class the other day, and she asked me what the hardest thing I had to overcome was, and when I said that it was coming to the realization that I needed to have surgery to save my life, we started talking about my path so far, and she was amazed at how far I've come to date.  Here is a link to her project:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Humans-of-Allen/1394644207449 942

The post she did about me is on December 20.  I am really pleased with how it turned out. 

My colleagues have noticed more than my students have.  I get a lot of compliments and questions--in fact, a colleague asked me about my surgery the other day as he is interested in beginning the process himself.

This  is fascinating stuff, and I too have been following the new research that seems to point in this direction.  Keep the great articles coming, it is good reading and quite interesting.

Your a dirty man......

frisco

Working in a school setting has left me with my own theories about "germs" etc.... Long and short of it is that kids who have hyper vigilant moms - you know the kind, carry 5 different kinds of hand sanitizer, have the wet wipes at the ready, carry Neosporin and Bandaids in their purses - well those are the kids that get sick! The kids who tend to be a little more rough and tumble or out doorsy rarely miss a day of school.

Me, I was the kid who played outside in the dirt, got pin worms on occasion, rassled with my dogs, and had chickens and horses during my childhood. I got strep throat a couple of times per year from about 8 to 11, but that was about it. Still haven't ever had the stomach flu (knock on wood) and can count the number of times on one hand I've actually thrown up due to illness.

So your article and musings sure make sense to me!

Happy Christmas, Tom!

Great article. As the saying goes: "God made dirt, and dirt don't hurt."