Explores the links between the hundreds of toxic pollutants in our environment…
Let Them Eat Dirt
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- Cataloging
- Transcript
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Allergies, obesity, asthma, diabetes, auto-immune and intestinal disorders are all on the rise, with the incidence of some diseases doubling every ten years. New research points to changes in the ecosystem of microbes that live on and inside every one of us -- our microbiomes -- as a major cause. But how could one's gut microbes increase the odds of developing conditions as radically different as asthma and diabetes?
Hosted by Good Morning America's Becky Worley, and based on the book of the same name by B. Brett Finlay, PhD and Marie-Claire Arrieta, PhD, LET THEM EAT DIRT features families, doctors, and researchers who are sleuthing out what's harming our microbes -- and what we can do to reverse this dangerous trend.
'While it might come as a surprise for many viewers, whether they are parents, teachers, primary school students or even undergraduate students, microbes are essential to our biology and health. Let Them Eat Dirt does a great job of celebrating our microbial world and suggesting that embracing it instead of fighting it will insure that kids grow up healthy! More educational materials like this could impact the trend of increasing chronic and allergic diseases that we are experiencing in the western world.' Dr. Jacques Ravel, Professor and Associate Director for Genomics, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine
'Excellent film. This is a comprehensive, clear, and up to date portrait of how the microbiome had changed over time, and how the microbiomes of children in the developed world may be affected by facets of modern life and medical decisions and practices. The relationship between the microbiome and common pediatric illnesses is well explained, the presentation is scientifically sound, and the guidelines that are advocated are clearly explained in terms of current knowledge. The film not only presents facts and data by experts in the field, but also provides tools for healthy living and health care decisions that will be appreciated by parents and educators.' Maureen W. Groer, RN, PhD, Professor of Nursing, Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine, University of South Florida
'Compelling...The film nicely breaks down the role that microbes play in these diseases by highlighting years of work done by pioneers in the field. Although the scientific community still has much work to do to fully understand the human microbiome and its immense complexity, the audience is left with simple take-home messages that are supported by the evidence that has been gathered so far.' Dr. Joseph Zackular, Assistant Professor of Pathology, University of Pennsylvania, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
'Let Them Eat Dirt goes a long way toward solving the mystery of the missing microbes. It shows us how microbes are an essential part of human biology, and it identifies the social and medical trends that are eliminating them from our bodies for the first time in the history of our species. Many questions remain, but it is reassuring to know that there are things we can do - as individuals, families, and societies - to harness the power of the microbiota to promote healthy development and prevent disease.' Dr. Thomas McDade, Professor of Anthropology, Director, Cells to Society (C2S): Center on Social Disparities and Health, Northwestern University
'This entertaining and informative video helps parents, educators, and physicians understand the impact of microbes on child health and disease. Supported by examples from the latest research, complex scientific concepts are accurately distilled down so they can be easily understood and acted upon. Let Them Eat Dirt provides a new and important perspective on how the body's microbes are necessary for maintaining health and preventing disease.' Dr. Michael Bailey, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University, Principal Investigator, Center for Microbial Pathogenesis, Nationwide Children's Hospital
Citation
Main credits
Medow, Rivkah Beth (film director)
Medow, Rivkah Beth (film producer)
Marshland, Brad (film director)
Marshland, Brad (film producer)
Marshland, Brad (screenwriter)
Worley, Becky (host)
Other credits
Camera, Jason Blalock [and 8 others]; editor, Chris Brown.
Distributor subjects
Anthropology; Biology; Child Development; Childbirth/Parenting; Consumerism; Counseling; Environment; Family/Consumer Sciences; Food And Nutrition; Gastroenterology; Health; Immunology; Medicine; Microbiology; Nursing; Obstetrics/Gynecology; Outdoor Education; Pediatrics; Recreation; Social Work; Women's StudiesKeywords
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[laughing and shouting]
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- [All] Let them eat dirt!
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- When I think of dirt,
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I think that it's going to be full of germs.
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- I would say I'm probably somewhere towards
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a conservative clean freak.
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- When I was a kid it was sort of like
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constant vigilance against what people put in their mouth,
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washing hands, don't touch this, that's dirty,
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- I remember learning about microbes
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in a 7th grade science class
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and they taught us that microbes were germs
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and that they were essentially bad for your health.
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- [TV Announcer] We like to keep the things
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that we own as clean as we can.
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That's why Dan is cleaning his bike.
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It looks much better now, but his hands don't.
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Now they need cleaning.
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Dan washes up, because for one thing,
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the soap and water are washing away microbes.
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[otherwordly sound effect]
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- Microbes, microbes [laughs].
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Um, I don't think about microbes, nope.
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- As parents, we all just want to keep our kids safe.
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I don't think we ever stop worrying about them.
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But some of the trickiest worries
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are about things we can't even see.
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- [TV Announcer] We like to keep the things that we own
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as clean as we can.
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Dan washes up because dirty hands
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don't look very good.
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- Before the internet, that's how we learned
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about important issues.
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Have you learned anything? - Nope.
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- Well what were they trying to tell you?
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[laughing]
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- Dan needs to wash his hands because his hands are dirty.
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- Definitely old school, so what does modern science
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tell us about germs and microbes?
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[energetic string music]
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- [Brett] Microbes are everywhere.
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They're in deep sea vents
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way under the sea at high pressures.
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They're in lakes a thousand feet under the ice.
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They've been here long before we were
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and they've built this world as we know it
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and contributed to all the life forms we see around us.
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- Microbes are actually part of our physiology.
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The way we developed, the way our organs
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and our systems develop in our body depend
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not only on functions that are encoded
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or produced by our genes, they're reliant on our microbes.
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- [Brett] There's at least as many microbes
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in and on us as there are human cells.
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They're so numerous that they outnumber
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the number of stars in the galaxy.
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- We all have around 35 to 40 trillion
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bacterial cells alone inside our bodies.
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Most of them reside in our intestine,
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and they play a fundamental role
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in how our bodies develop and how they function,
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everything from producing little chemicals
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that your body needs,
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all the way through to fighting off other pathogens--
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other dangerous bacteria or dangerous viruses
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which you would otherwise be susceptible to.
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- We and our microbes, it's not just two separate things.
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It's just like another organ that we have.
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- [Jack] Microbes can produce chemicals
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which actually affect how our brains develop
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and even how we behave. [baby crying]
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"Hangry" may be a real thing.
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We know that microbes can play a role
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in diabetes, in obesity, in asthma and food allergies.
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- In the last 50 years, we've seen an incredible decrease
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in the amount of infectious diseases--
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measles, mumps, tuberculosis, hepatitis.
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That's great.
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But in the same time frame, we've seen
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almost an equal increase in the number
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of autoimmune diseases, allergies, asthma,
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diabetes, intestinal disorders, and obesity.
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[waves lapping]
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- My brother and my sister had very severe, chronic asthma,
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the type that does not get controlled easily.
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You almost have to put them in a cocoon
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to prevent them from getting sick.
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They can almost stop breathing
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or you can see them changing color
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due to the lack of oxygen.
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[gentle piano music]
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- When I see Ziair in an attack, sometimes I can't think
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because I'm trying to think of what to do.
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And there's nothing to do other than
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just give him the three medications that they give him,
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and if that seems not to be working
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I feel scared.
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- I try not to think too much about the fears,
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but they're there.
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- He is 12 weeks, I want him to be healthy
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and grow up to be whatever he wants to be.
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- There's only about a hundred different kinds of bacteria
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that actually cause bacterial infections,
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yet we have thousands of different species
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in and on us, living on our bodies.
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They help our brain develop, they help our gut develop,
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they help our immune system develop,
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and when you take them out of the equation
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we realize this doesn't happen.
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Then we started to see this rise in obesity
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and allergies and asthma and autism and ADHD
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and, y'know, you pick your disease.
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- But how could microorganisms that live in your gut
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affect your odds of developing asthma,
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which is a disease of the lungs,
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or diabetes, which is a blood sugar disorder?
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In the next 50 minutes, we're gonna talk to families,
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researchers and scientists to try and figure out
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what's harming our microbiome,
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and what we can do to reverse this dangerous trend.
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But first, a quick biology primer.
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A microbe is basically any living thing
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that's too small to see without a microscope.
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That includes protozoa, viruses, fungi, and bacteria.
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Microbes are the oldest and most successful
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life forms on earth.
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And we've evolved with them, in a deeply complex
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symbiotic relationship.
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Microbes train our immune systems,
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help us digest our food, and even help us fight disease.
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Without microbes producing vitamin K for example,
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our blood wouldn't coagulate
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and we'd pretty much all bleed to death.
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Yuck!
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- It turns out that you and I
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are basically genetically identical.
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We're 99.99% of the chromosome the same between us, right?
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And all humans are like that.
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What's different is their microbes.
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[jaunty orchestral music]
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What we're finding is that we're actually
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not being very good to our microbes.
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Ironically, our grandparents had much better microbes
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than we do now.
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- And how do we know what kind of microbes
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people had a hundred years ago?
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Mostly from the guts of World War I soldiers
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buried in permafrost.
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And even further back, from frozen Viking latrines.
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The microbes in these samples
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are totally different from what are found
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in modern European populations today.
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- [Marie-Claire] In the past century or two,
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we really have been cleaning up the world,
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and there's been really drastic changes
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not only in the type and the number of microbes
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that we get to live with,
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but also the consequences in our bodies.
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- We're missing these essential microbes
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that we need just to live normally.
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- And that leads to disease? - Yep.
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There's a lot of data indicating that this does.
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You can take mice that don't have any microbes.
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Their brains don't develop normally,
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their immune system does not develop normally,
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their gut doesn't develop normally.
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And what we're now realizing
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is that many of these diseases have screwed up microbes,
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and in several cases we're showing
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that the screwed up microbe
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is actually contributing to the disease.
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- So what happened?
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If the rise of so many modern diseases
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stems from our kids' missing microbes--
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the ones that our grandparents all had--
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where'd they go?
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[blocks crashing] [all laughing]
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[upbeat instrumental music]
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- In this one generation, in about 30 years,
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the rates of asthma have quadrupled.
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That's huge, huge numbers.
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And it can't just be genetics,
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because my mom's genes aren't particularly different
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from my genes.
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So it's something about the environment
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that kids are growing up in today.
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- [Marie-Claire] We're depriving our bodies
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of this healthy exposure to microbes,
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especially when we're young.
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- [Becky] Dr. Marie-Claire Arrieta
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is looking at how microbiomes in different cultures
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can lead to different health outcomes.
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In Ecuador, for example, she studied a community
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where part of the population got clean drinking water,
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and part did not.
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- People that had potable, clean water in their homes
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had a higher risk of asthma,
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and that really surprised us
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because it possibly showed that it is really
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that microbial environment around the type of water
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that they're drinking and other exposures
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that are driving this risk.
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Now of course we want clean water
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because we need to avoid infectious diseases,
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they're quite dangerous-- but we want both.
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We want clean water, but we also want lower risk.
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- [Becky] Now, along with Dr. Cecilia Ximenez
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of The National Autonomous University of Mexico,
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she's looking at microbiome-related health outcomes
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of kids in Xoxocotla, Mexico.
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- Whether it is a tropical forest
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or the arctic tundra or our gut microbiome,
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one of the critical aspects in ecosystems
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is this concept known as diversity.
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Even from early ages, the microbiomes here
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start a lot more diverse.
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With the process of industrialization,
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we seem to have lost about a third of the diversity
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in our microbiome.
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And that's pretty huge.
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These kids, just like kids in North America,
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will play a lot with other kids,
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but they may do it in a different way here.
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They may be bare feet when they're kicking around a ball
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and they're also more exposed to animals--
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and not just your average cat or dog,
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they have goats and chickens and cows
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and pigs, even, around where they live.
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I mean, these kids eat peanuts in preschool
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as a healthy snack.
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It's a very different way of growing up,
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and we can learn a lot from diversity
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and other components of the microbiome
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and their immune system.
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[speaking in Spanish dialect]
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[chiming instrumental music]
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- Even though they are at a socioeconomic disadvantage,
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for all intents and purposes
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these are healthy children.
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However, their microbiome is completely different
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to the microbiome in North American children
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and also in other Western countries.
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In Mexico, the rates of asthma and immune diseases
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like allergies or autoimmune disease
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are down in comparison to the rates
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that we're seeing in the more developed world.
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- [Becky] Yet even within the more developed world,
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lifestyle differences can profoundly affect
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the variety of microbes that live on and in our children,
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which in turn can significantly impact their health.
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- We're no longer dying in our millions
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from pathogenic infections thanks to vaccines,
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thanks to public health works.
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However, removing that exposure overall
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may have led to our bodies now becoming
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over-sensitized to the rest of the world.
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We've known for many years that the rate of asthma
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can be higher in the urban communities, in the cities,
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than it is in the rural communities,
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which we put down to the fact
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that people in urban environments
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are being exposed to more pollution
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in the environments around them.
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When we first started exploring the Amish populations,
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we noticed that that population of people
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had a very low rate of asthma--
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almost 3% or 4%--
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compared to the average for the United States
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which is around 7% to 8%.
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We also noticed a sister population to the Amish
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called the Hutterites.
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Both these populations have adopted
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a technology-free lifestyle.
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But the Hutterites had almost 25% asthma
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in their population.
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Genetically, the Amish and the Hutterites
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are the same people.
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They drink unpasteurized milk,
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they eat unpasteurized cheese.
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They live this ultimate foodie lifestyle, almost.
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However, the major difference between them
[00:14:40.335]
is that the Amish live on their farms.
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Their front door is 50 feet from the barn door.
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The kids, before school and after school,
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are working in that farming environment.
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The Hutterites don't.
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The men get in their buggy in the morning,
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drive out to the farm, change into work clothes,
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work on the farm all day, drive home.
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And so the children living at home
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have no exposure to that farming environment.
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They have 25% asthma in their population
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compared to the Amish, who are living and working
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on the farm all the time,
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who have 4% or 5% asthma in their population.
[00:15:10.223]
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- That's powerful evidence.
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Unfortunately, we can't all keep a cow in our front yard.
[00:15:18.153]
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So I've been wondering about my family.
[00:15:24.380]
What do our microbiomes look like?
[00:15:26.380]
I mean, I've chosen to raise my kids here in the suburbs.
[00:15:29.510]
How do our microbes compare to those
[00:15:32.060]
of families from less-developed nations,
[00:15:34.230]
or even farm families right here in the U.S.?
[00:15:37.047]
[00:15:39.090]
There are a number of different companies
[00:15:41.240]
that provide test kits to do just that--
[00:15:44.110]
find out what microbes are in our guts.
[00:15:47.360]
But here's the thing.
[00:15:48.650]
You know how we test for that?
[00:15:50.230]
- Your poop. [laughing]
[00:15:52.840]
- It's for science. - Yay!
[00:15:55.403]
- It's disgusting, yay. [laughing]
[00:15:59.070]
- You just swab a piece of used toilet paper
[00:16:02.130]
and put the sample into the vial that they provide.
[00:16:05.983]
[00:16:07.978]
I'll spare you watching this part.
[00:16:10.926]
[00:16:14.310]
A few weeks later, I get back the results,
[00:16:16.570]
and call up Dr. Arrieta to help me understand them.
[00:16:19.483]
[00:16:21.211]
- Hi. - Hey Claire, how are you?
[00:16:22.836]
- Good.
[00:16:23.669]
How are you? - I'm great.
[00:16:24.880]
I'm really curious, are my family's microbes normal
[00:16:29.210]
or are they close to what used to be normal?
[00:16:32.140]
- Great question.
[00:16:33.178]
You and your kiddos
[00:16:34.411]
have the prototypic North America microbiome...
[00:16:37.790]
- Is that good or bad? - It's different.
[00:16:40.700]
We're now at a time where we can only talk
[00:16:43.668]
in terms of "associated with."
[00:16:46.257]
We do not know if that particular bug
[00:16:48.656]
is going to cause diabetes later on, or obesity later on.
[00:16:52.880]
We're still not there yet, but we can associate it.
[00:16:56.600]
- So my son, Finn, has asthma.
[00:16:58.600]
Is there any benefit in taking him to visit a farm?
[00:17:02.467]
- Unfortunately, no.
[00:17:03.690]
I mean, you're thinking of just packing it up
[00:17:05.550]
and moving to a farm hoping
[00:17:07.220]
that his asthma is going to get better?
[00:17:08.879]
No.
[00:17:09.712]
In fact, it would probably get worse.
[00:17:11.810]
At the same time, we do know that being raised in a farm
[00:17:16.320]
is a protective factor.
[00:17:18.710]
This exposure to the microbes
[00:17:21.310]
that are common in a farm,
[00:17:23.503]
they are able to train the immune system
[00:17:26.950]
into this state that is not going to lead to asthma.
[00:17:31.300]
So it seems that it's early life when it matters the most.
[00:17:34.473]
[00:17:39.480]
- All right, let's dig into that a little.
[00:17:41.380]
Asthma is a chronic disease that already affects
[00:17:44.650]
about 1 in 12 North American children.
[00:17:47.230]
And it's on the rise.
[00:17:48.803]
[00:17:50.700]
Scientists who study the microbiome
[00:17:52.500]
focus so much of their attention on asthma
[00:17:54.680]
because it's often just the first
[00:17:56.350]
of many immune disorders that cause problems.
[00:17:59.063]
[00:18:00.500]
- It affects families like you wouldn't believe.
[00:18:03.103]
[00:18:04.070]
Parents miss work, children miss school.
[00:18:06.560]
I've had parents actually lose jobs
[00:18:08.620]
because they had to take off so much time.
[00:18:10.970]
So that affects all of society,
[00:18:12.820]
because then now the parent isn't able to go back to work
[00:18:15.670]
because the child has been sick so often
[00:18:17.850]
that the employer finally has to let them go.
[00:18:20.960]
So it has large, far-reaching repercussions.
[00:18:25.960]
[00:18:26.403]
[water bubbling]
[00:18:27.953]
[00:18:33.002]
- Do you see how much he's pouring?
[00:18:34.782]
Keep on going.
[00:18:36.420]
I began to see him labor with his breathing.
[00:18:40.640]
I could literally see in his throat,
[00:18:43.504]
[inhaling and exhaling slowly] I could see that.
[00:18:48.504]
[00:18:49.410]
Then I began to hear it.
[00:18:51.847]
[00:18:54.671]
He literally would not be able to breathe,
[00:18:56.588]
and it would just come out of nowhere.
[00:18:58.740]
- It's hard to breathe when I'm like that,
[00:19:01.230]
and then my stomach starts hurting and I feel sick.
[00:19:05.950]
- This is an illness that's chronic,
[00:19:08.590]
that could take my son's life.
[00:19:10.383]
[00:19:14.770]
- I hear children saying all the time, "I don't take gym.
[00:19:17.347]
"I know I'm overweight, but I can't take gym
[00:19:19.577]
"because I have asthma."
[00:19:21.037]
[00:19:22.780]
We want them to be physically active,
[00:19:24.700]
but they are afraid to be active
[00:19:26.110]
because they're afraid they're going to have
[00:19:27.460]
an asthma attack and die.
[00:19:28.713]
[00:19:30.016]
[tender piano music]
[00:19:32.516]
[00:19:33.980]
- We try to let him operate as a regular kid, you know.
[00:19:37.520]
But the reality is, is he's not.
[00:19:40.143]
[00:19:44.775]
- When the kids are playing I'll be like,
[00:19:47.072]
"Naw, I don't wanna go outside."
[00:19:49.922]
[00:19:51.514]
And I just stay inside.
[00:19:53.730]
[00:19:54.750]
- I can't control his breathing.
[00:19:56.940]
I can't control the medicine intake.
[00:19:59.630]
I can't control the doctor's prescription.
[00:20:02.530]
But what I can control is the love
[00:20:05.500]
and the commitment that we have for one another.
[00:20:08.343]
[00:20:12.510]
Ziair's big brother, Amir, takes really good care of him.
[00:20:16.593]
[00:20:17.590]
He is always around and, like, literally,
[00:20:20.780]
he wants to be around him.
[00:20:22.620]
He comes around when other big brothers
[00:20:25.230]
would rather have their little brother be somewhere else.
[00:20:28.690]
How you feel? - I feel good.
[00:20:30.976]
- You need your medicine? No? - I don't think so.
[00:20:34.678]
- [Audrey] Amir is often sad
[00:20:37.150]
because he's in the same position as me,
[00:20:39.740]
watching his baby brother struggle to gasp for air.
[00:20:44.740]
[00:20:48.060]
If I had a magic wand, my son would be able to breathe
[00:20:51.360]
so that he could live the best life that he can have.
[00:20:54.483]
[00:20:59.140]
- Asthma is the number one reason
[00:21:01.460]
for children going to hospital,
[00:21:03.430]
number one reason for children missing school.
[00:21:05.990]
Number one reason for billing
[00:21:07.750]
to the healthcare system, is asthma.
[00:21:09.673]
[00:21:10.980]
About 10 years ago a bunch of Canadians
[00:21:13.150]
got together and said, "We don't know what's causing asthma.
[00:21:15.697]
"There's a huge increase, we've gotta do something."
[00:21:18.297]
[00:21:21.120]
The Allergy, Genes and Environment Network
[00:21:23.370]
had already been looking into the causes
[00:21:25.250]
and treatments of asthma and allergies.
[00:21:27.290]
So AllerGen, along with a Canadian team of leaders
[00:21:30.490]
in clinical work and research, launched
[00:21:32.720]
the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development Study.
[00:21:36.293]
[00:21:39.010]
- The CHILD Study was developed to explore
[00:21:41.530]
the early origins of allergy and asthma--
[00:21:44.550]
what happens during pregnancy
[00:21:46.270]
and the first few years of life.
[00:21:48.273]
[00:21:50.010]
- One of the things that was really brilliant
[00:21:51.720]
about the CHILD study was that we took the stool samples
[00:21:54.940]
from those kids when they were born,
[00:21:57.020]
when they were three months old,
[00:21:58.283]
when they were one year old, and we froze them down.
[00:22:01.432]
And then we were able to compare the bacterial composition
[00:22:04.462]
in kids who went on to have asthma versus those who didn't.
[00:22:08.170]
And we found that those kids who were at highest risk
[00:22:10.372]
of asthma seemed to be missing four bacteria,
[00:22:14.032]
and interestingly they were missing those bacteria
[00:22:16.357]
in the first 100 days of life.
[00:22:18.800]
- What are the bacteria? - So the bacteria
[00:22:21.030]
have complex Latin names--
[00:22:23.310]
Faecalibacterium, lachnospira, veillonella and rothia.
[00:22:27.790]
That's a bit of a mouthful, so we nicknamed them FLVR.
[00:22:31.760]
F-L-V-R.
[00:22:33.180]
- But how would the bacteria fight asthma?
[00:22:37.011]
- So asthma and allergy is really actually
[00:22:39.003]
an immune system problem.
[00:22:40.728]
And what we've learnt is that the gut bacteria,
[00:22:43.430]
we call that the microbiome,
[00:22:44.990]
is really important for training
[00:22:46.690]
and educating the immune system.
[00:22:48.700]
We don't know exactly what's going on yet.
[00:22:51.720]
We have evidence that those FLVR bacteria make chemicals--
[00:22:54.675]
we call them metabolites--
[00:22:56.333]
and that those metabolites train up the immune system.
[00:22:58.820]
We know that children who get more antibiotics,
[00:23:01.427]
they have higher risk of asthma.
[00:23:04.183]
Children born by ceasarean section
[00:23:06.424]
have higher risk of asthma.
[00:23:08.230]
Kids who live on farms have a lower risk of asthma.
[00:23:11.180]
[00:23:12.110]
So when you start putting all those elements together
[00:23:14.602]
one of the common themes there is actually
[00:23:16.540]
the bacteria that live inside us.
[00:23:18.503]
[00:23:21.050]
- If this were a crime show, I'd say
[00:23:23.358]
"Lifestyle changes. Guilty"
[00:23:25.616]
But lifestyle and environment aren't the only suspect,
[00:23:29.470]
and asthma is not the only crime.
[00:23:32.363]
[00:23:33.421]
[brooding instrumental music]
[00:23:36.088]
[00:23:38.440]
Every doctor and scientist I've talked to
[00:23:40.600]
says you can't start too early
[00:23:43.180]
developing a healthy microbiome.
[00:23:45.170]
Those first 100 days are crucial.
[00:23:48.000]
There is some indication of microbial transfer in utero,
[00:23:51.970]
but the biggest transfer happens at the moment of birth.
[00:23:55.463]
[00:23:59.250]
- Birth is a very messy process.
[00:24:00.660]
Ironically, this is important.
[00:24:02.010]
I jokingly say that the best birthday present
[00:24:04.720]
you ever give your kid is the very first one
[00:24:06.630]
and that's this-- this big dose
[00:24:08.400]
of vaginal and fecal microbes.
[00:24:10.380]
Boom, you're born with this.
[00:24:11.955]
Welcome to the world, kid.
[00:24:13.338]
- Happy Birthday! - Happy Birthday.
[00:24:14.670]
That's really important because it kicks up
[00:24:16.390]
the immune system and it gets the digestive tract going,
[00:24:19.140]
it gets the brain going, and if you have a C-section,
[00:24:22.010]
unfortunately you miss that.
[00:24:24.343]
[00:24:25.230]
- Between 2000 and 2015, the rate of C-section worldwide
[00:24:28.950]
has doubled, and children at the age of seven
[00:24:31.700]
had a 50% increased risk of obesity
[00:24:34.460]
if they were delivered by C-section
[00:24:36.470]
compared to their vaginally-delivered counterparts.
[00:24:39.323]
[00:24:41.870]
- We know that ceasarean sections
[00:24:44.055]
are often life-saving and medically necessary
[00:24:46.580]
for both moms and babies,
[00:24:48.500]
but babies born by C-section really don't get exposed
[00:24:51.530]
to mom's vaginal flora at all.
[00:24:53.500]
Their bacteria often resemble that in the
[00:24:55.690]
operating room, or of the mother's skin.
[00:24:58.850]
But babies born by ceasarean section
[00:25:00.960]
are at increased risk of different health problems
[00:25:03.550]
including obesity, allergies and asthma.
[00:25:06.653]
[00:25:08.930]
- My first children are one-year-old twins
[00:25:11.210]
and they were born via C-section.
[00:25:12.890]
And then I did get pregnant again [laughs],
[00:25:15.957]
and because it was so close together
[00:25:19.210]
it's really not recommended to have a vaginal birth
[00:25:22.150]
because there's a possibility of uterine rupture.
[00:25:25.033]
[00:25:27.630]
- I had a complete previa with her,
[00:25:30.260]
so they had to do a C-section for that one
[00:25:32.650]
and there were some complications.
[00:25:34.910]
So then the doctor recommended a C-section for Liv also.
[00:25:39.683]
[00:25:40.950]
- I've worked with kids that have had health issues,
[00:25:43.300]
and even the minor ones, it's alot for a child.
[00:25:45.820]
It's alot in school, it's alot for the parents.
[00:25:48.510]
It can be very difficult.
[00:25:49.950]
So if there was any way that I could decrease
[00:25:52.840]
those chances of them having health issues, I would do that.
[00:25:57.170]
I think any parent would do that.
[00:25:58.673]
[00:26:02.330]
- I hope that they're going to be safe,
[00:26:04.230]
[00:26:07.602]
and that they have a good childhood growing up
[00:26:10.470]
[00:26:13.140]
and that nothing ever happens to them.
[00:26:16.307]
[00:26:21.900]
- [Becky] Antibiotics are wonder drugs.
[00:26:24.340]
They've saved countless millions of lives.
[00:26:27.482]
But what we now realize is that antibiotics
[00:26:30.310]
don't just kill the bad germs that cause infection,
[00:26:33.660]
they can kill all microbes.
[00:26:35.673]
[00:26:36.800]
- The negative effects of damaging the microbiome
[00:26:39.270]
at an early age is that you are damaging
[00:26:41.972]
the way their immune system develops.
[00:26:44.453]
[00:26:45.910]
And because of that, they can get diseases
[00:26:48.232]
such as asthma, allergies, multiple sclerosis--
[00:26:51.468]
even autism, we're learning now--
[00:26:53.540]
and also metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.
[00:26:57.043]
[00:26:59.910]
- Life expectancy today is 30 years longer
[00:27:02.670]
than it was just a century ago, largely due to antibiotics.
[00:27:07.303]
[00:27:08.810]
During the Civil War, more people died
[00:27:10.820]
of infectious diseases than from bullet wounds.
[00:27:14.463]
[00:27:15.550]
But with all the benefits of antibiotics,
[00:27:17.690]
have we traded one class of ailments for another?
[00:27:20.935]
[00:27:25.460]
Doniga Markegard raises grass-fed beef
[00:27:27.838]
just south of Half Moon Bay, California.
[00:27:30.660]
And her kids? - Oh, it pooped!
[00:27:32.600]
- Yeah, they're fairly free-range as well.
[00:27:34.913]
[00:27:38.760]
I love seeing your kids out here playing in the pond.
[00:27:42.090]
Do they swim in here in the summer?
[00:27:43.500]
- Oh gosh, yeah. [laughing]
[00:27:45.310]
Strip down naked, cover themselves with mud.
[00:27:48.383]
Yeah, they love it. - It's great.
[00:27:50.500]
- Yeah, all my kids were born right here on the ranch.
[00:27:53.620]
And I made it a point that they would go
[00:27:57.710]
right from breast milk to food that we either
[00:28:01.003]
grow or raise, or that we source from local organic farms.
[00:28:04.830]
And they don't suffer from any of the common things
[00:28:08.278]
that you see with kids, like allergies or asthma
[00:28:12.336]
or runny noses and things like that.
[00:28:15.470]
[00:28:17.760]
- [Becky] Of course, this is just one family
[00:28:20.330]
who might just be lucky.
[00:28:22.550]
But the real reason I've come here
[00:28:24.110]
is to talk about a simple fact.
[00:28:26.660]
- 80% of the antibiotic use in this country
[00:28:30.230]
is fed to livestock. - Wow.
[00:28:32.163]
[00:28:33.030]
- It's proven that antibiotics help growth promotion,
[00:28:36.573]
[00:28:37.810]
whereas our animals that are raised on a natural diet
[00:28:42.440]
take a couple years to finish.
[00:28:45.110]
In a feedlot, many of those animals might start on grass,
[00:28:48.446]
but then they'll go into a feedlot to finish.
[00:28:51.380]
And so with the feed rations and that antibiotic use,
[00:28:55.504]
they can get those animals to finish in 18 months.
[00:28:58.423]
[00:28:59.990]
It's a profitable way that farmers have found
[00:29:04.160]
that they can produce large amounts of meat
[00:29:06.840]
in a shorter amount of time.
[00:29:09.073]
[00:29:10.420]
- [Becky] So it seems like ranchers have known for decades
[00:29:13.530]
that antibiotics make livestock put on weight faster.
[00:29:17.530]
And experts confirm the same is true of humans.
[00:29:21.816]
- Babies exposed to antibiotics,
[00:29:23.770]
especially in the first six months, the first year,
[00:29:25.861]
are more likely to develop obesity later in childhood.
[00:29:29.273]
[00:29:31.370]
It's not that every child that receives antibiotics
[00:29:33.570]
is going to develop asthma or become obese.
[00:29:35.820]
But we do see a significant association.
[00:29:38.173]
[00:29:39.780]
Antibiotics sometimes are really important
[00:29:41.475]
and life-saving drugs,
[00:29:42.712]
but sometimes they're also used unnecessarily.
[00:29:44.903]
[00:29:46.570]
- In fact, even the CDC states that
[00:29:48.847]
"30% to 50% of antibiotics prescribed in hospitals
[00:29:52.237]
"are unnecessary or inappropriate."
[00:29:54.927]
[00:29:58.150]
So, antibiotics-- good, but not great.
[00:30:01.963]
[00:30:08.680]
Food allergies increased 50
Distributor: Bullfrog Films
Length: 57 minutes
Date: 2019
Genre: Expository
Language: English
Grade: 10 - 12, College, Adults
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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