In 2020, Andrea McBeth’s company, Thaena Inc., introduced capsules designed to improve people’s gut health and overall well-being. Today, the product is recommended in several hundred naturopathic clinics, says McBeth. The story illustrates the power of a major biomedical advance, microbiome-based healing.

Some of the product’s origins can be found in McBeth’s naturopathy practice in Portland in the 2010s. She became expert in fecal microbial transplants (FMTs). She assembled a network of healthy people who agreed, for a fee, to put their fecal material (poop) in little plastic containers and send it to her laboratory. A human poop contains billions of live microbes, mostly bacteria. Those microbes can heal. McBeth and her associates processed the material and manufactured capsules that she sold to people suffering from Clostridium difficile (“c. diff.”), a nasty gastrointestinal (GI) disease that causes diarrhea, cramps, and exhaustion, and resists treatments of mainstream conventional medicine. Patients swallowed the caps and colonized their sick guts with healthy bacteria. They got better. In formal terms, their digestive tracts experienced normalization of microbial diversity. A common reaction: “It’s a miracle!”¹

McBeth was part of a small network of health care providers who used FMTs to help C. diff. sufferers from the 2010s until 2023 when the drugs Rebyota and Vowst came on the market. Her success inspired her to dig deeply into the science and create a new dietary supplement, ThaenaBiotic, made from sterilized poop, aimed at enhancing the health of the gut and other bodily systems.

To tell the product’s story fully, we need to take a few steps back.

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Human genes, our tiny guides for life, are embedded in most cells in our bodies. They’re made of the famous molecule DNA, which is composed of four smaller molecules: adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine (known in science writing as A, T, C and G) built from several elements including carbon and hydrogen.

In 1953, the shape of DNA was discovered by Francis Crick and James Watson, who stood on the shoulders of Rosalind Franklin, Oswald T. Avery, Maurice Wilkins, and others. The discovery was monumental, “like knowledge from the gods,” said scholar E.O. Wilson.² The shape is a “double helix”—a “double-railed circular staircase,” in the phrase of historian Horace Freeland Judson. Knowledge of the molecule’s shape revealed subtleties of the function, a means by which “all its properties can be interpreted,” Judson writes.³

Watson and Crick generated momentum for molecular biology, the study of cells, research into “life at its deepest level,” writes Watson.⁴ Timothy J. Smith, physician and author, comments: “The biochemical activity in each human cell can be compared to the activity in a large city. The mitochondria alone are worthy of a lifetime of study.”⁵

An aspect of molecular biology is the human genome, the protein-coding genes carried by all people, about 23,000 per person. In the wake of Watson and Crick, the human genome was pondered. By 1966, the genetic code was established, the pathways by which genetic information is translated to proteins. In the 1970s, genetic engineering commenced in labs. And in 1990, international scientists, including molecular biologists, biochemists, geneticists, and physician-scientists, embarked on the Human Genome Project (HGP).⁶

They “sequenced” the genes of 300 people—mapped their arrangement of A, T, C, and G molecules. Their work was made possible by advances in computer technology and new laboratory procedures. It was attended with great excitement. Many researchers believed the human genome was the most important factor in health, that sequencing would quickly lead to excellent therapeutics and personalized medicine. Glowing phrases came from scientists interested in gaining funding, and from politicians and the media: “biology’s Holy Grail,” “magic elixir,” etc.

In the early 2000s, basic HGP findings were released. The glowing phrases turned out to be misplaced, in the view of many observers.⁷

On the plus side, HGP broke a lot of ground. Knowledge of the human genome, says geneticist Richard A. Gibbs, can reasonably be compared to internet access. HGP encouraged advances in technology.⁸ It gathered terabytes of biological data. (Each human’s genome sequence can fill many big telephone books with tiny type.) It inspired the “omics” approach to examining layers of life (genomics, metabolomics, epigenomics, etc.). “It paved the way to look at and characterize all the microscopic life living in and on us,” says McBeth.

But HGP didn’t unearth enough information to make the expected therapeutic breakthroughs. Large gaps in knowledge remained. Filling some of those gaps was the goal of the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) launched in 2007, an extension of HGP with the goal of peering into the microbiome and characterizing the genetic content, the genomic makeup, of all microbes in and on the human body.⁹

The human microbiome consists of microbes residing at five places in our bodies: the gastrointestinal tract (the gut), skin, oral cavities, nasal passages, and the urogenital tract. These microbes are primarily bacteria. (Viruses and fungi are also present.) The gut has the most microbes, especially the large intestine.

HMP scientists recruited a new cohort of several hundred people, gathered microbe samples from the five sites, and used the new technologies to sequence microbial DNA. The results were startling. The microbiome has far more microbial activity and interest than anyone anticipated—hundreds of species of bacteria and millions of genes. And, quite surprisingly to scientists, the bacteria are mostly friendly. Overnight, researchers got excited about the potential of the gut microbiome for having positive effects on the immune system, mental health, obesity, inflammatory diseases, and other realms. As stated by Ross Pelton, natural pharmacist: “Bacteria utilize the information contained in their vast amount of DNA to produce compounds that are responsible for directing and regulating a great deal of the functioning of the human body. This explains why it is so critically important for people to learn how to create and maintain a healthy microbiome.”¹⁰

Learning those skills became a priority for many people as word spread about the HMP’s findings. In the 2010s, microbiome journalism was published in the New York Times, the New Yorker magazine, and many other outlets. In 2014, Martin J. Blaser issued the seminal book Missing Microbes; also in ’14, the excellent film Microbirth premiered (it’s on YouTube). In 2015, Tim Spector published the book The Diet Myth and in 2016 Emeran Mayer issued The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Astonishing Dialogue Taking Place in Our Bodies Impacts Health, Weight, and Mood.

We have gone “microbiome mad,” said an article published in May of this year in Cosmopolitan magazine: We spend money on yogurt, digestive enzymes, probiotics, fermented foods such as kefir, acres of vegetables, and shelves of books. Among the book titles published in 2022-24: A Silent Fire: The Story of Inflammation, Diet, and Disease by Shilpa Ravella, Flush: The Remarkable Science of an Unlikely Treasure by Bryn Nelson, Plant Based Gut Health by LearnWell Books, and The Anti-Viral Gut: Tackling Pathogens from the Inside Out by Robynne Chutkan. The film Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut premiered this year from Netflix.

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We have known about microbes, about human bacteria, since 1676 when the great Van Leeuwenhoek put his teeth scrapings under a microscope and saw little things swimming around. In the 1860s and ’70s, Louis Pasteur studied bacteria, developing and popularizing the idea that germs cause disease. He is sometimes referred to as “the microbiome scientist.” In the 1880s, Robert Koch and Theodor Escherich made important discoveries. In the early 1900s, Élie Metchnikoff advanced the idea of improving health by increasing beneficial microbes in the gut. In the 1920s and ’30s, René Dubois contributed to the development of antibiotics, chemicals that kill bacteria or slow their growth. In 1926, Paul de Kruif published the book Microbe Hunters about Van Leeuwenhoek, Koch, and others, a highly readable work inspirational to generations of would-be scientists. In 1962, Theodor Rosebury published the textbook Microorganisms Indigenous to Man. In the late 1960s, Lynn Margulis made conceptual breakthroughs relating to our long co-evolutionary relationship with microbes (her work was ignored for years). 

With Pasteur, the germ theory of disease began a long reign in mainstream conventional medicine. It views bacteria as mostly destructive, as pathogens to be killed, as “avatars of death” in the phrase of journalist Ed Yong.¹¹ The germ theory of disease is an aspect of the biomolecular theory of disease, which says that illness is caused by a “single physiochemical defect,” writes physician Clifton K. Meador, “such as invasion of the body by a foreign agent (virus, bacterium, or toxin) or from some metabolic derangement arising within the body.”¹² In the last few decades of the 20^th century, this type of reductionist thinking was sharply criticized. Holism and systems thinking gained new adherents. Advances in microbial ecology and environmental microbiology created new acceptance for the idea that most microbes aren’t purely pathogenic but are beneficial or at least neutral.¹³

Through most of the 20^th century, research into human microbes was slow because many bacterial species carried by humans are not culturable—they can’t be grown in laboratories, unlike microorganisms from water, soil, and other sources. Then, in the 1990s, advances in digital technologies enabled rapid advances. Joël Doré, David A. Relman, and others published groundbreaking papers. In 2007, as noted, came the Human Microbiome Project, with scientists recruiting another cohort of several hundred people and using the new technologies to examine fecal samples, skin swabs, etc. (Other big studies would follow—the Earth Microbiome Project, the American Gut Project, the British Gut Project, the Flemish Gut Flora Project, the Global Health Microbiome Initiative. In 2016, the U.S. government funded the National Microbiome Initiative.)

People began referring to the microbiome as an organ—a new organ system that has incredible impact on health—“the most important organ,” says biochemist Erika Ebbel Angle.¹⁴

Study of the gut microbiome is complicated by several factors—difficulty of access, the fact that every person’s terrain is different from all others, and by changes that happen daily, hourly, minute-by-minute. Guts are affected by gene signals, food choices, stress levels, exercise, sleep quality, geography, age, hygiene, exposure to allergens and other toxins, contact with antibiotics and vaccines.

The impact of food on gut health gets much interest today. The Western diet, with special reference to processed foods and low fiber content, is thought by many observers to be reducing beneficial microbes and driving increases in chronic diseases such as diabetes and autoimmune conditions. 

Other questions being studied: What does the ideal intestinal microbiome look like? If a gut is healthy, exactly what benefits flow to other body systems? What communications occur between gut bacteria and other molecules in the body—what signals, pathways, exchanges of information? Why do fecal microbial transplants work so well to heal C. diff? What else can be treated by FMTs? How best can damaged microbiomes be restored? What standard drugs, taken orally, can be created?

There’s much about the bacterial world we don’t understand. “Our microbiome and its interactions with our body are highly complex and we are just beginning to understand tiny fractions of it,” said MyMicrobiome.info this year. 

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Andrea McBeth first got interested in the human microbiome in the early 2010s as she studied naturopathy in Portland. The gut became her life’s work: “Microbiome science is so cool.”

Born in 1986 in Portland, she originally wanted to be an academic scientist, perhaps in biomedical engineering or molecular immunology. She grew up in a science-y home, her father a hydrogeologist and her mother a nurse, and in high school happily did science nerd stuff such as a summer internship in organic chemistry. In 2008 she received a biochemistry degree at the University of San Diego, on the road toward a doctorate. Then came a crisis. Her mother, Sharon, got ill with fibromyalgia and needed help.

McBeth moved home to Portland, gave her mom as much time as she needed, and also worked as a research assistant at a hospital cancer lab. Eventually she was able to begin doctoral studies in biomedical engineering at Oregon Health and Science University. Then, in 2011, her sister, Christine, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Again, Andrea found herself being the family helper. “I want to take care of everyone!” she says ruefully. “I don’t have very good boundaries!”

Sharon and Christine relied mostly on mainstream conventional care. McBeth monitored every office visit, every decision, every infusion. Her attitude toward the doctors was, “I’m watching you. Don’t kill them.” Along the way, she learned that nutrition mattered a lot in Sharon’s effort to heal. Careful menu-planning came into the picture, also visits to naturopaths.

The two patients recovered. Their caregiver was left with post-traumatic stress disorder, compounding autoimmune arthritis she had carried since the age of seven. McBeth’s angst was exacerbated by her conversations with other patients—people who lacked adequate insurance coverage, who were mortgaging their houses to pay for bone marrow transplants. She was “really, really, really mad” at mainstream conventional medicine and was primed for a new way of thinking about health and wellness. Someone suggested she would make a good naturopath. She was intrigued. She investigated the program at Portland’s renowned National College of Natural Medicine (NCNM). She enrolled in 2013.

(NCNM changed its name from “college” to “university” in 2016. Established in 1956, it offers an accredited four-year program leading to a doctor of naturopathic medicine degree [ND], graduating dozens of new NDs every year. It has advanced programs, including master’s degrees in nutrition, acupuncture, and global health.)

McBeth loved her studies. Among the things she learned: food can be medicine. (Hippocrates agreed.)

Calling upon her love of heavy-duty science, she studied the massive complexities of how digestive systems work: Which foods best nourish the gut mucosa? What causes Crohn’s disease? What happens to fiber in the gut? She worked to heal her own GI tract and felt a lessening of arthritis pain—most interesting.

Along the way, she learned about fecal microbial transplants. The idea dates to ancient China. In the 16^th and 17^th centuries, European farmers used the approach in their livestock. In 1958 came the first modern-day human FMTs recorded by science; in Denver, Benjamin Eiseman, MD, used transplants to treat four colitis cases (three critical) probably caused by C. diff. Symptoms resolved in hours. “But the procedure did not become routine,” write scholars Amar Bhidé and Srikant Datar: “(Over the next few decades) just a small ‘underground network’ of physicians used it on patients with deadly or crippling diseases.”¹⁵ Mainstream conventional medicine opted to treat C. diff. with a powerful and very expensive antibiotic called vancomycin.

In 1981 in Georgia, Talmadge Brown, MD, successfully used FMTs in c. diff. cases. In the late 1980s Australian physician Thomas Borody started doing FMTs. In the 1990s and 2000s, Dr. Lawrence Brandt did FMTs in New York; Dr. Christina Surawicz in Washington State; Dr. Alexander Khoruts in Minnesota; and Dr. Colleen Kelly in Rhode Island (“at her patient’s insistence,” write Bhidé and Datar). Brandt notes the reaction of his peers to FMTs: they viewed it as quackery. Insurance companies scoffed.

FMT papers were published in scientific journals. Advocacy groups formed. The internet spread the word. Naturopaths began using the approach.

As FMT interest expanded, it synergized nicely with the Human Microbiome Project, with clinicians and researchers connecting at conferences. People “had an awareness of everything going on,” says McBeth, and were “open-minded about all the possibilities.”

McBeth graduated from NUNM in 2017, opened her Portland clinic, supervised successful FMTs, and followed news of HMP. A question formed in her mind (and in the minds of many other researchers): What else can poop do?

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One aspect of the gut microbiome that fascinated McBeth was its metabolites, molecules secreted by gut bacteria: bile acids, peptides, serotonin, short-chain fatty acids (butyrate, etc.), polyamines, leucine, equols, etc.—thousands of different molecules carrying out an assortment of physiologic functions, most of them beneficial. When we think about the microbiome having a positive impact on health, it’s not bacteria fanning out in the body to do good things, it’s metabolites, traveling through the bloodstream, entering cells through a lock-and-key receptor mechanism.

The Human Microbiome Project generated insight into metabolites, and in the project’s wake, study of the molecules accelerated. McBeth kept up with the Internet-borne inundation. She studied hundreds of journal papers, watched streamed lectures, and tracked key words. She attended conferences and questioned conference presenters. She became a lay expert on metabolites.  

For example, she devoted much time to bile acids. The chemical structure of these molecules was first described in 1932. In the wake of that work, writes one academic team, the acids were “considered by the medical profession to have no useful therapeutic properties.”¹⁶ A few researchers were interested. But only in the late 1990s did science get really serious about the materials, with the striking discovery, made possible by technological advances, that the molecules regulate the activities of many genes—they’re hormones, signaling molecules, traveling to distant parts of the body to do interesting things.

There are hundreds of bile acids, recent research shows, many more than previously thought. The relationship between bile acids and the gut microbiome is more complicated than previously thought. Problems with the acids can contribute to diabetes and obesity. The acids regulate mitochondrial function. A person’s acid composition changes with age.

Human poop teems with bile acids and hundreds of other metabolites. McBeth, armed with knowledge of fecal microbial transplants, wondered if she could use metabolites to expand the scope of FMTs. Could the molecules be used to address other conditions beyond C. diff.?

One problem with expanding the range of FMTs was worry about safety. Even though many C. diff patients benefited from FMTs—even though the procedure’s safety record is solid—people in the field have “valid concerns,” says McBeth, about the risks of transferring living microorganisms and infectious disease from one person to another.

McBeth had the idea of sterilizing fecal material, killing fecal bacteria with heat. This would (a) put safety worries to rest and (b) not damage the healing power of metabolites. The resulting product could be sold as a nutritional supplement, avoiding a years-long FDA drug approval process.

In 2017, McBeth found validation for her concept in a newly-published paper by Stephan J. Ott et al. titled “Efficacy of Sterile Fecal Filtrate Transfer for Treating Patients With Clostridium difficile Infection” published in the journal Gastroenterology:

“[FMT] is a highly effective therapy….However, transferring undefined living bacteria entails uncontrollable risks for infectious and metabolic or malignant diseases….We investigated whether sterile fecal filtrates (containing metabolic products, etc.)….are effective.“¹⁷

Ott’s conclusion: such filtrates are indeed effective. McBeth’s reaction upon reading the paper: “I knew it. I totally knew it!”

(Scientists don’t know why sterile filtrates are effective against C. diff. Nor do they know why standard FMTs using live bacteria work so well against the condition. The “whys” are investigated in labs.)

McBeth drew up a plan with her business partner, naturopath Piper Dobner, to buy poop from healthy well-screened donors, disinfect it in an industrial-strength autoclave (a steam-driven sterilizer), process it into granules, and create a capsule, a “fecal-derived sterilized postbiotic.” (They use the word “postbiotic” to indicate metabolites.) The product, called ThaenaBiotic, would be different from anything that existed before, with hundreds of helpful molecules rather than just a few. “To summarize our thesis,” says McBeth, “it’s that we can assemble a viable stable mixture of metabolites, small molecules, that, working in synergy, can have a positive impact at incredibly low concentrations.”

As they made plans, the two women were helped by their naturopathic training. “Naturopathy was a beautiful awakening for me,” McBeth says. “Naturopaths and functional MDs are able to think outside the known evidence base. We don’t hold on to pre-conceived notions. We think in holistic terms. We understand the importance of nutrition. We know the gut is the root of health, the foundation. The combination of naturopathy and basic science training made us bold enough to try things that wouldn’t traditionally have been thought of as feasible.”

Thinking in new ways is dear to McBeth’s heart: “My brain works differently. The word is ‘neurodivergence.’ Solving problems differently. Much of my life that was difficult. I’m able to embrace it now.”

In 2018, she began learning the ins-and-outs of entrepreneurship. “I didn’t know anything about start-ups,” she says. “I didn’t know about venture investment. I didn’t know you can just ask people for money.” She sought financing from a Portland angel investing group that focused on women-owned startups. The group said “no” but one of its members reached out separately. She and McBeth conversed:

“This is interesting. How much do you need to do proof of concept?”

“Five thousand dollars for a freeze dryer. There’s one on eBay we can rebuild.”

“Here’s a check. Go buy it. Then write up a detailed pitch and I’ll give you fifty thousand dollars.” 

Telling the story today, McBeth laughs and recalls, “I was like, ‘What’s the catch?’ Well, there was no catch!” She bought the freeze dryer, wrote the full pitch, and got the $50,000. In coming years, she and her team would raise another $2 million, requiring much more work than the first 50K—“It was blood, sweat, tears, and signing over unborn children to get most of it,” says McBeth.

Entrepreneurship has a steep learning curve, she notes. “There are a lot of things I would do differently now. When we started, I very much disliked branding, and marketing, and sales, but now I have a huge appreciation for how important those are. Communications is incredibly important, telling the story in detail, in a way that’s understandable, that people will actually read and grasp. There are a lot of brilliant ideas and product out there, but people don’t know about them, because they’re not marketed correctly, the story is not communicated properly.”

In 2019, the company was incorporated. An advisory board was set up. Patent applications were developed; lawyers hired; a manufacturing site found; a website designed (Thaena.com). In 2020 the first bottle of ThaenaBiotic came forth. McBeth had a complex reaction.

“I was skeptical. I wasn’t sure it would work. I’m my hardest critic. And I’m aware there’s a lot of placebo effect in the G.I. space. I reserved judgment until I started getting feedback. My mom tried it and said it worked for her. That’s when I really started to believe—she’s very discerning.  And then many other people said it worked for them.”

Making health claims is a tricky area for supplement companies—the FDA and FTC look askance at enthusiasm, however justified it may be—so she proceeds cautiously: 

“We have gathered a lot of really cool anecdotal data. The product appears to support many areas of the body. I’m most excited about the product’s capacity to enhance the health of the digestive system and help some people have a healthy well-formed poop every day. This is a complicated physiologic process, as we know, and it’s obviously an important process for overall health. Our product is helping a lot of people with this, including people with serious issues, such as antibiotic use and food poisoning. I totally think we can collect the right evidence soon that shows we help patients with constipation and diarrhea who have been told by other people they can’t do anything for them.

“People who are doing OK gut-wise and want to take their health to the next level seem to also appreciate its support.

“The gut communicates with the whole body. The gut microbiome can be thought of as an endocrine organ creating ‘hormones’ that tell our bodies what to do. If the gut is healthy, other bodily systems are more likely to be healthy. We think our product can help the gut, which in turn may support chronic diseases, including immune dysregulation. We believe the product may be impacting the brain and nervous system—brain fog, energy levels, focus. Based on other microbiome research, we’re fascinated by the possible impact on the liver, the metabolic system, the cardiovascular system, and responses to immunotherapies. 

“We’re in a learning phase right now to find out what it can do. We say, ‘Try it for a month; if you feel it’s not worth your money, we’ll give a refund.’”

ThaenaBiotic costs $200 for 30 capsules (or “crapsules,” a name the company has trademarked). The price reflects substantial production costs. McBeth hopes to get the price down. The label says “take daily” but the equally relevant phrase is “take as needed”—McBeth notes that many people benefit from taking one or two capsules per week or even one every two weeks. It’s available exclusively through credentialed healthcare providers.

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Hundreds of companies today, globally, are active in the microbiome health space, developing and selling supplements, functional tests, and pharmaceuticals: CosmosID, Designs for Health, Genova Diagnostics, Microbiome Labs, and Seres Therapeutics, to name a few of the leaders.

“I’m excited about all the activity!” says McBeth. “New discoveries are being made every week. Big Pharma is jumping on the bandwagon. Technology is going to be helpful—bioinformatics—artificial intelligence, ever-increasing computing power, great software. These tools will allow us to process the tremendous amounts of data that are being mined.

“But we still only know maybe five percent of all there is to know about the microbiome. Everybody is wondering what’s happening with all this chronic disease in the world. Why are we all so sick? I believe the microbiome has answers. I believe we’re going to help many people.”

A Recipe for Gut Health
Andrea McBeth nourishes her gut microbiome by eating lots of vegetables (sauerkraut, leafy greens, garlic, onions, leeks, etc.), reducing stress, and eating chia pudding for breakfast several times a week. Her pudding recipe: one tablespoon of chia seeds added to a cup of kefir and a cup of kombucha, with nuts/trail mix if desired. Let the mixture sit overnight before consumption.

Resources for Further Exploration

Books:

The Human Superorganism: How the Microbiome Is Revolutionizing the Pursuit of a Healthy Life by Rodney Dietert (2016).

Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues by Martin J. Blaser (2014).

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong (2016)

Instructional course:

The Microbiome Foundation Course (five hours) at Microbirth.Teachable.com.

A Few Quotations            

“The most critical factor in creating and maintaining a healthy microbiome is a healthy plant-based, fiber-rich diet. When people consume high sugar, high fat, processed foods, they promote the growth of pathological bacteria that can cause many health problems. Remember, when you eat, you are not just eating for yourself, you are feeding 100 trillion guests.” – Ross Pelton, natural pharmacist and author.¹⁸

“The body can get addicted to certain foods. The microbes get addicted. If you eat trash foods, snack chips, pizza, sugary cereals, packaged cookies and so on, the microbes, the gut bacteria, will crave those foods because you have cultivated a gut full of bacteria dependent on junk food. These bacteria will try to lock you in to food sources that they’re accustomed to, foods they like, that helps them grow. They’re not fond of you changing your diet. They’re threatened by the prospect of such a change, of being displaced by other microbes. So they generate the craving feeling.

“This is a reason why it can be hard to shift from trash foods to good foods. The shift can be done, it’s well worth doing, but it’s not easy because of this craving mechanism. Being aware of the mechanism will help you deal with it. You’ll need patience, perhaps a period of months. You’ll need good weapons on your side. You’ll need good probiotics. You’ll need to slowly adopt new foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, miso, tempeh, kvass, amasi, chicha—try different things to see what works best for you. You’ll need plenty of fiber, starting slowly. Exercise is important, outdoors if possible.” – Rodney Dietert, immunologist, author of The Human Superorganism (2016).¹⁹

“We tend to think that we eat what we like, but science tells us that we like what we eat. Your taste buds can change.”—George Guthrie, physician.²⁰

“I believe that in 20 years, microbiome analysis, probably poop analysis, will be as common in doctor’s offices as blood testing is today.” – Martin Blaser, physician, author of Missing Microbes (2014).21

References

1.  Among this article’s sources are interviews with McBeth in April and May, 2024, academic papers, the Microbiome Foundation Course, general interest articles at Metabolon.com and other venues, and YouTube videos including talks by Lita M. Proctor, Susan Lynch, and Bonnie Bessler. Background on FMTs: “Fecal Microbiota Transplantation: An Interview With Alexander Khoruts” at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4030611/ and “Fecal Microbiota Transplants—Too Simple to be Safe? Case Histories of Transformational Advances” by A. Bhidé and S. Datar at https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=60520.
2. Scientist: E.O.Wilson: A Life In Nature by Richard Rhodes (2023).
3. The Eighth Day of Creation: The Makers of the Revolution in Biology by Horace Freeland Judson (1979).
4. A Passion for DNA by James D. Watson (2000).
5. Interview, 2023.
6. History of genetic research is taken from several sources including “Human Genome Project” at https://www.britannica.com/event/Human-Genome-Project and “The Human Genome Project” at https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/human-genome/.
7. See, for example, immunologist Rodney Dietert in “The Human Superorganism” (2016) and physician E. Fuller Torrey in the 2019 article “Was the Human Genome Project a Dud?” at https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2019/10/13/was-the-human-genome-project-a-dud/#:~:text=It%20was%20said%20that%20the,Genome%20Project%20was%20vastly%20oversold.
8. “The Human Genome Project Changed Everything” by Richard A. Gibbs (2020) at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7413016/.
9. “The Human Microbiome Project: Exploring the Microbial Part of Ourselves in a Changing World” by P. Turnbaugh et al. at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3709439/.
10. “Postbiotic Metabolites: How Probiotics Regulate Health” by Ross Pelton at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7238912/.
11. I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong (2016) provides background on human microbes.
12. Symptoms of Unknown Origin by Clifton K. Meador (2005).
13. “The Human Microbiome, Diet, and Health: Workshop Summary” at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK154091/.“Your Gut Microbiome: The Most Important Organ You’ve Never Heard Of” TED talk by Erika Ebbel Angle at YouTube.com.
14. “Fecal Microbiota Transplants—Too Simple to be Safe? Case Histories of Transformational Advances” by A. Bhidé and S. Datar at https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=60520.
15. “Key Discoveries in Bile Acid Chemistry and Biology and Their Clinical Applications: History of the Last Eight Decades” by A. Hofmann and L. Hagey at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4109754/.
16. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27866880
17.  “Postbiotic Metabolites: How Probiotics Regulate Health” by Ross Pelton at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7238912/
18. Interview 5/2024.
19. Guthrie’s website is EatPlantsFeelWhole.com.
20. Interview 5/2024.

Published July 27, 2024