THE MICROBES OF JOY

We are only 10 percent human. For each cell that forms that vessel called the body, there are nine others that, like true impostors, scrounge a passage. We are not only made of flesh and blood, muscle and bone, epidermis and brain, but also of fungi and bacteria.Throughout our lives we host so many microbes that their weight would be equivalent to that of five African elephants, because in in reality we are not individuals but colonies.

For not long ago we were convinced that the role of microbes was mostly irrelevant, but science is revealing another truth: perhaps they are microbes to manage our body and health without them would be impossible.

Biologist Alanna Collen has written a fascinating and astounding book in which, drawing on the latest scientific findings, she demonstrates that the colony of microbes we harbor affects our weight, immune system, mental health and even partner choice.

Many of the modern diseases, including obesity, autism, mental disorders, digestive problems, allergies, autoimmune diseases and even cancers, result from the inability to take care of the most fundamental and lasting relationship we have: that with our colony of microbes. .

But there is also good news: unlike human cells, microbes can be improved. Life and the human body will never seem the same to us.