Abstract
Our gut microbiota is composed of an assortment of (semi)permanent intestinal inhabitants that co-exist with temporary microbes. Although it is hard to keep up with the fast advancing field of microbiome research, this book bid to provide, first, a look into key players of the gut microbiota found in food from breast milk to dairy, meats and vegetables, to a revision of methods to generate efficacious probiotics. Then, we approached the oral microbiota as the host-microbe ecosystem that selects which bacteria will progress into the gastrointestinal tract, highlighting the importance of oral health for the overall health of the host. Finally, the third part of the book focused on age and the gut microbiome, how the consumption of foods with high microbial loads may lead to temporary changes in microbial diversity, to end on what is commonly known now as “the diseases of the Western civilization” and the potential to modulate the gut microbiota for a more resilient microbial population. Hence, what do we know now that we did not know 10 years ago?
It will be well for the unscientific reader to understand distinctly that Professor Metchnikoff does not offer a cure for old age. Old age is not a disease and cannot be cured; it is an accumulation of changes which begin during earliest youth and continue throughout the entire life of the individual. To overcome old age, either the process or the result of the normal life of man would have to be radically changed, and there seems little prospect of our ever being able to overthrow the natural course of individual development. On the other hand, we may reasonable hope, by improving the health of the individual, to prolong life.
Introduction by P. Chalmers Mitchell to the American Edition of the Prolongation of Life—Optimistic Studies by Elie Metchnikoff (1910)
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Azcarate-Peril, M.A. (2019). Conclusions: What Is Next for the Healthy Human-Microbe “Holobiome”?. In: Azcarate-Peril, M., Arnold, R., Bruno-Bárcena, J. (eds) How Fermented Foods Feed a Healthy Gut Microbiota. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28737-5_15
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