Читать онлайн «Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ»
Автор Джулия Эндерс
(
GIULIA ENDERS
)
ILLUSTRATIONS BY JILL ENDERS
DAVID SHAW
GUT
The Inside Story of Our Body’s
Most Underrated Organ
VANCOUVER/BERKELEY
For all single parents who put as much energy and love into bringing up their children as our mother did for my sister and me.
And for Hedi.
Copyright © 2015 by Giulia Enders
Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Jill Enders
Translation copyright © 2015 by David Shaw
Originally published in Germany as
First published in English by Scribe in 2015
Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada
ISBN 978-1-77164-149-4 (pbk. )
ISBN 978-1-77164-150-0 (epub)
Editing by Jane Billinghurst
Cover and interior illustrations by Jill Enders
Cover design by Peter Cocking
Distributed in the U. S. by Publishers Group West
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, the Province of British Columbia through the Book Publishing Tax Credit, and the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities.
The advice provided in this book has been carefully considered and checked by the author and the publisher. It should not, however, be regarded as a substitute for competent medical advice. Therefore, all information in this book is provided without any warranty or guarantee on the part of the publisher or the author. Neither the author nor the publisher or their representatives shall bear any liability whatsoever for personal injury, property damage, and financial losses.
Contents
Preface
1 GUT FEELING
How Does Pooping Work? And Why That’s an Important Question
The Gateway to the Gut
The Structure of the Gut
What We Really Eat
Allergies and Intolerances
A FEW FACTS ABOUT FECES
2 THE NERVOUS SYSTEM OF THE GUT
How Our Organs Transport Food
Reflux
Vomiting
Constipation
The Brain and the Gut
3 THE WORLD OF MICROBES
I Am an Ecosystem
The Immune System and Our Bacteria
The Development of the Gut Flora
The Adult Gut Population
The Role of the Gut Flora
The Bad Guys—Harmful Bacteria and Parasites
Of Cleanliness and Good Bacteria
Acknowledgments
References
Preface
I WAS BORN BY cesarean section and could not be breast-fed. That makes me a perfect poster child for the intractability of the gastrointestinal tract in the twenty-first century. If I had known more about the gut back then, I could have placed bets on what illnesses I would contract later in life. At first I was lactose intolerant. I never thought about why I was suddenly able to drink milk again at the age of five. At some point I got fat, then thin again. Then, for a long time, I was fine—until I got “the sore. ”
