The practice of humans fermenting foods likely developed from inadvertently leaving foods in an unpreserved state and still finding them palatable, if somewhat altered, some considerable time later. Fermentation is, after all, a form of controlled decomposition.

Garlic has been used both as a food and medicine by more human cultures and for longer than almost any other plant in the world.

I read an excellent scientific review on the role of gut microbes in nutrition and health. I have set out the fundamentals for you here.

The state of our poo tells us a great deal about our gut health in general. It would be useful if we paid more attention to to our poo.

Food allergies incidence is rising. It would be easy, with its increasing ubiquity, to become blasé, but severe food allergies can be life-threatening.

Those of us raising and feeding kids hold the power to influence the microbial health of the next generation. We are the ones doing the food shopping. Deciding what we eat. What our kids eat. And the choices we are making really matter.

Test yourself, test your family and friends. How diverse is your diet?