Review: Dirt is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child's Developing Immune System

Dirt is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child's Developing Immune System by Jack A. Gilbert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The first chapters seemed to be explaining what the microbiome is. This was too scientific for me (and I'm not going to be researching the veracity of all of their studies), but I can see how they need to establish the science ahead of time. The middle of the book has the some great advice. Then the end of the book seems to get a bit too much into detail in terms of scientific detail (whether and how to conduct a fecal matter transplant, etc.). In fact, the conclusion seems to target scientists themselves, when it asks them not to get "drunk with power" in terms of their findings and wishing to help people, thereby giving unreliable information.

I really liked the advice that was given, although I feel like it could have gone into more detail as to what average parents should be doing (and trust us to be mature enough to understand everything is based on probabilities, so nothing is 100%). For example, the book says that newborns should be kept clear of strangers' microbes, while older children should be exposed to them. When should this transition occur? Should it occur all at once? Are there stages? Also, what about other settings? Are there studies regarding feeding store-bought food, just buying fruits or veggies, restaurant leftovers, organic stuff (apparently freshly killed chickens are fine)? Any differences there? Does it even matter? What about sunshine? rain? etc.

I'm not saying all of these things worry me, but I just think the useful information seemed to be crowded out by the more rare scientific questions.

Conversely I liked how readily they admit that we don't have enough data available. This should be standard practice (and would be great answers to my questions above as well). I'll also be interested in seeing what results from probiotics, which seem to hold promise but don't have enough studies quite yet.

Some of the notes I took:
- Dogs are slightly better than cats, but any pet or animal helps (in terms of asthma, hay fever, etc.)
- Going to farms is great
- Playing with all types of dirt is good
Only sterilize after hospital visits, using raw meat, etc.
Sanitizer can get rid of all microbes (including good ones, which are needed for protection)
- First month or so: keep baby separate from other people


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