Gut Instinct Summary

Gut Instinct, a magazine article written by Jop De Vrieze, follows the unique work of Jeff Leach, an anthropologist studying the gut microbes of a tribe in Africa. Leach’s work in gut microbes began when his daughter developed type 1 diabetes at age two. Leach researched all the possible explanations for why his daughter was struck with such a life changing disease at such a young age, and his conclusion was clear: by being delivered through a cesarean section, his daughter did not come in contact with the bacteria that were necessary for children when being born. Also, by only being breast fed for two months and living in a sterile environment, his daughter was far from exposed from essential bacteria. Leach’s work moved him to Africa, where he was determined to discover …show more content…
The article presented no real data by its end, and relied too much on soft data to get its point across. Leach continued to mention the importance of feces throughout the article, but he never presented what he was looking for in the feces. Does a certain color signify something in the gut microbes? Does its consistency, shape, or etc. have any role in visually seeing the impact of gut microbes? This might have been too graphic for a magazine article, but I am sure a more colorful explanation could have been given then sending it off to a lab for testing. Leach stakes his claims in murky water, as many other researchers are skeptical that the Hazda lifestyle can be imposed on a modernized society, both because of no proof that the Hazda lifestyle is better and because not many Hazda people live long enough for major diseases to develop. Leach did not provide a strong argument against the cases of other researchers, but nevertheless his research could play a role in how modern humans could influence their gut bacteria and the bacteria around