The author of “Missing microbes: How the overuse of antibiotics is fueling our modern plagues”, Martin Blaser, is a medical researcher who has spent most of his career studying the benefits of bacteria. What made him known? His participation in the work highlighting the involvement of Helicobacter pylori in stomach ulcers. He realized later that people with gastric reflux and allergic reactions didn’t have this bacterium. Helicobacter pylori, known as a pathogen bacterium, could actually have positive effects on health. Following this result, he then extended his work to the benefits of bacteria.

In his committed book, the author presents some scientific researches supporting the hypothesis that the disappearance of certain bacterial species from the early stages of life is accompanied by some diseases: obesity, diabetes, allergy but also celiac disease, inflammatory bowel diseases, even autism.

He explains that the administration of antibiotics is too often systematized, and this from an early age. He focuses on the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics (ie non specific antibiotics to a microorganism), sometimes prescribed “just in case”. These antibiotics eliminate as much bad bacteria as good one, unbalance the intestinal microbiota and make us vulnerable to chronic diseases.

The too frequent practice of cesarean section is another problem according to Martin Blaser. He demonstrates that this technique does not allow newborns to receive maternal bacteria from a natural birth, whether in quantity or diversity.

He leads the reader to think about the human lifestyle in developed countries, making the intestinal microbiota depleted of bacterial species. In comparison, isolated people who never use antibiotics and have a different lifestyle, possess a much richer intestinal microbiota.

To conclude his book, Martin Blaser makes some recommendations in order to limit the damage on the intestinal microbiota. He advises:

  • to limit the use of antibiotics when they are not necessary. However, he recognizes their positive effects when properly administered;
  • to realize cesarean section as a last resort;
  • fecal transplantation, probiotics and prebiotics, which can render disappeared bacteria to the microbiota.

“Missing Microbes” is a book full of information, continually supported by scientific evidence that will introduce you to the intestinal microbiota and the impact of a modern lifestyle.

Blaser M. Missing microbes: How the overuse of antibiotics is fueling our modern plagues. Henry Holt and Co., 2014.

LC