THE BIOME BUZZ
BUGS AND WORMS AND OTHER GREAT STUFF
Category: Uncategorized
The Ugly Truth About Published Science
Today’s post is off topic in terms of the biome, but very much on topic with regards to my last post, in which I bemoaned the insane amount of sensationalism that has crept into even science. Turns out, I was spot on. In discussing…
Fake News…Not Even Science is Sacrosanct
I remind myself almost daily that fake news is not new. Think of the days of William Randolph Hearst and yellow journalism. Think of all the times you’ve been on the checkout line at the grocery store and read those headlines about the woman…
The Specific Carbohydrate Diet: A First-Line Treatment (Finally)
In January of this year, I wrote about a small study on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet out of Seattle Children’s Hospital. 8 out of 10 children went into remission after only 12 weeks on SCD, which is actually a very short time. I just…
Pet Allergies…I Mean…Allergies in Pets
Three weeks ago, I walked into Petco to get a few things for my 12 year old Australian shepherd…and there she was. A local shelter was having an adoption day, and a little, white puppy made her way over to me, climbed up to…
Autism, the Biome and Potential Treatments
Fist pump! A paper that actually presents information that can help people who are sick! Woopa! As promised, here is a summary of that fantastic article[i] about autism and the biome that I discovered on Dr. MacFabe’s new website. I’ve ranted enough over the…
Helminths at the Movies
Several years ago, I was interviewed by a then-graduate student at NYU’s film school. Sharon Shattuck was studying documentary film making, and with her science background, had stumbled across and become interested in the concept of therapeutic helminths. She took the train up from…
For Valentine’s Day: A Paper that I LOVED
“…the current generation is facing an epidemic of diseases associated with dysregulated inflammation…” says Dr. P’ng Loke and his colleague, Dr. Yvonne Lim, in an article[i] I just finished on the interactions of the microbiota and helminths. This is, without a doubt, one of…
Dr. Derrick MacFabe, Autism and The Metabolome
Many years ago, I first saw Dr. Derrick MacFabe speak at an autism conference. It was among the most memorable talks I’ve ever seen. Dr. MacFabe’s research centers around the cognitive and behavioral effects of bacterial metabolites (especially short chain fatty acids). Proprionic acid…
Yet Another -ome
Last week, I read about the metabolome for the first time. Funny word, I thought, reading it as meta….bolome. Then, as I began to read through the article[i] I realized I was putting the accent on the wrong syllable. Metabo – lome….as in metabo-lites!…
Stress and the Microbiome
As promised, I am writing about something other than SCD today! For a change, I thought we could talk about stress. I have a lot of it. Really, more than my fair share. And I’ve been under major stress for now almost 21 years,…
Helmithic Ponderings…and Ending Suffering
This morning a very good article on helminths appeared on the science website, Undark, “Old Friends: The Promise of Parasitic Worms.”[i] My main complaint: like so many other articles on the subject, it left the impression that there’s just not all that much science…
Guest Post: Thoughts on Treating Autism
I am excited to introduce my first guest blogger, Dr. Louise Lindenberg, MD. I first met Louise 6 years ago, on a trip I made to South Africa, to talk in an autism conference. I loved her from the minute we met and I…
