A book I read recently...

In today's world, where allergies and food intolerances are a common occurrence, it would be good to know, what all these inconveniences are and how to avoid them. The intestine plays a vital role here. People who, for example, develop lactose intolerance and then it disappears again, and likewise, overweight or other health problems (skin rashes, depression, digestive difficulties, etc.), that cause problems, often suffer from physical and mental problems too and mostly without knowing why.

This writer, for example, had wounds on entire body, that did not want to heal except with a hormone salve. No doctor could help her - it seemed to be some kind of neurodermatitis. It made her to pull herself together and try to find out the reason. One man had the same symptoms after a course of antibiotics and she had to take antibiotics before the first ulcers occurred as well. This made her realize, that the wounds were the result of an intestinal disease. She began to research more about intestines and nutrition, omitted dairy products and gluten, and began to eat healthier. With some tricks, she finally got her skin problem under control. It was a great achievement and the writer experienced on her own skin, that knowledge can be a great power. This led her to medical studies.

When she encountered people with bad breath and depression in addition to intestinal problems, she discovered a whole line of research about the intestinal-brain relationship. About 10 years ago there was very little knowledge and articles on the subject, but today there are hundreds of scientific articles on it. How the intestine affects our health and well-being is one of the most important lines of research of our time!

In her book, the writer explains, what's going on in our gut, what science offers and how we can make a better use of it in our daily lives.

For me, a memorable example was, that the tonsils and the appendix are immune organs and it is not advisable to cut out the tonsils from children under the age of 7, because before that the immune system is still developing. However, from adults, who have dermatitis, cutting out the tonsils can actually make the disease disappear, as the tonsils often collect all sorts of pathogens. For example, stones in the tonsils, that can be squeezed out by certain methods, cause bad breath, and when an experiment was done, in which people with dermatitis had their tonsils cut out, 13 people of 15 healed from dermatitis.

In the book, the writer also explains the role of appendix and why many people need to remove it, much like throat tonsils. I myself have been thinking and also my daughter has asked, why this caecum is needed at all when it is like a time bomb in our bodies. If you still have the appendix, every time you go on a journey, you will think twice about what if it gets an inflammation. This is a dangerous thing and requires immediate action, which is not always possible if you are somewhere in the jungle, for example. So why not prevent it and cut it out before? It turns out, that the appendix produces special digestive enzymes, which are very necessary, but when the caecum is gone, other intestines take over and still manage to work. But it would be better, if we still had a functioning caecum.

The book is not a dry scientific writing, but rather a humorously written and fascinating reading, that reflects upon us new researches on health issues, both physical and mental, as the gut produces many different hormones, including well-being hormones. I have read more books on the same subject, but this book is mostly focused on the gut and digestion and its relation to mental health.

I recommend reading to those, who are interested in health or why not to read it to children, as they will certainly have some of laugh in addition to the knowledge they receive.