Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ

by Giulia Enders

The first tube runs right the way through us, with a knot in the middle. This is our cardiovascular system, and the central knot is what develops into our heart. The second tube develops more or less parallel to the first along our back. Then it forms a bubble that migrates to the top end of our body, where

when so much gas collects in the stomach that it presses up against the heart and the nerves in the gut. Sufferers can display a range of different symptoms, including dizziness and discomfort. In more severe cases, Roemheld syndrome can cause anxiety or difficulty in breathing, and may also lead to severe chest pain that feels like a heart attack. Doctors often write off undiagnosed Roemheld sufferers as overanxious

If all this—the folds, the villi, and the microvilli—were ironed out to a smooth surface, our small intestine would have to be some 4½ miles

Sugar is the only substance our body can turn into fat with little effort. Glycogen reserves are soon used up—just

When the stomach and the small intestine are both empty, the coast is clear for the housekeeper to do its work.

Substances contained in root ginger block the vomit center of the brain and the feeling of nausea along with it. Many ginger candies, however, contain only ginger flavoring,

Lactobacillus plantarum and Bifidobacterium infantis could already be recommended as a pain treatment for patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

As soon as babies begin to develop a rudimentary immune system and gut flora, they can only tolerate blood from their own group.

we are soon colonized by so many microorganisms that only 10 percent of our cells are human, with microbes accounting for the remaining 90 percent.

One character who probably had problems producing haem was Count Dracula. A genetic defect has been identified in his home country, Romania, that results in symptoms that include a lack of tolerance to garlic, sensitivity to sunlight, and the production of red urine.

Mindful yogurt manufacturers often use bacteria that produce more dextrorotatory (right-turning) than levorotatory (left-turning) lactic acids. Molecules of the two kinds of lactic acid are mirror images of each other.

Strangely, we can dream all sensory experiences except smells. Our dreams are always odorless. Truffle pigs know just as well as

the proportion of carriers among those who suffer from schizophrenia is about twice that among those who do not. Toxoplasma gondii could, therefore, influence

Bad bacteria cannot process prebiotics at all, or hardly, and so they cannot use prebiotics to produce their evil chemicals. At the same time, good bacteria fed with prebiotics grow constantly in power and can gain the upper hand in the gut.