Let Them Eat Dirt cover art

Let Them Eat Dirt

Saving Your Child from an Oversanitized World

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Let Them Eat Dirt

By: B. Brett Finlay, Marie-Claire Arrieta
Narrated by: Chris Sorensen
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About this listen

In the 200 years since we discovered that microbes cause infectious diseases, we've battled to keep them at bay. But a recent explosion of scientific knowledge has led to undeniable evidence that early exposure to these organisms is beneficial to our children's well-being. Our current emphasis on hyper-cleanliness is taking a toll on our children's lifelong health.

This engaging and important book explains how the millions of microbes that live in our bodies influence childhood development; why an imbalance in those microbes can lead to obesity, diabetes, asthma, autism, and reactions to vaccines, among other chronic conditions; and how - from conception on - parents can positively impact their own behaviors and those of their children. It describes how natural childbirth, breastfeeding, and solid foods influence children's microbiota and offers practical advice on whether to sterilize food implements for babies, the use of antibiotics, and why having pets is a good idea.

©2016 B. Brett Finlay, PhD, and Marie-Claire Arrieta, PhD (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
Biological Sciences Biology Children's Health Contagious Diseases Parenting & Families Physical Illness & Disease Relationships Science
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This book along with 'Whole has changed my view on diet, health, and environment massively. Easy to digest and very unbiased and honest book. Very good book whether you have children or not. I will be buying copies of this for friends at Christmas.

Absolutely fascinating and important book.

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Very pleased I listened. Far better informed now as although subject complex it is well-explained.

So interesting

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I listen to this book intermittently with the "The human superorganism" which covers the same topic.
While there are a lot of similarities in the information shared, the latter is more detailed, quotes more studies and gives wider information.

I enjoyed the story of a mum telling her little daughter about all the tiny little microbes in her tummy and how important it is for her to look after them well by eating the right foods. Seems like a good idea to encourage kids to eat more healthy fruit and veg.

The chapter on breast milk barely touched the topic which made my wonder why bother at all. It also concluded that formula feeding might be a "societal necessity".

The chapter on vaccines was largely an opinion piece that quotes one study and mentions no other data, surveillance reports or risk benefit analyses but advises that you should vaccinate your kids anyways.

The information on Wakefield is very poorly researched if not simply parroted whats been said in a media without verifying the information. This for example:

"The media picked up the story and very rapidly the rates of vaccination dropped, resulting in a jump in a measles and mumps cases, along with the deaths and long term damage associated with those diseases".

I checked the surveillance records on UK.GOV website and here is what the measles infections and deaths were like 4 years prior and 4 years after the study was published:
1994 16,375 0
1995 7,447 1
1996 5,614 0
1997 3,962 3
1998 3,728 3
1999 2,438 3
2000 2,378 1
2001 2,250 1
2002 3,232

How do you conduct a thorough research while omitting the source?

In overall I found "the Human Superorganism to be much better written book, so consider that one before purchasing.

Poorly researched

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