An Ecologist Explains How Biodiversity Loss Is Hurting Your Health — And What You Can Do About It
The twin epidemics of autoimmune disease and mental illness are linked to local biodiversity loss.
You are a person. You are also an ecosystem. Your skin, gut, orifices, and organs are collectively home to trillions of microorganisms.
These microorganisms are not freeloaders. They contribute to your health in crucial ways, many of which science is only beginning to understand.
For example, we now know that the metabolites and other byproducts made by the microbes in your gut strongly influence the activity of your immune system. If some of these essential gut bacteria are missing or their populations are depleted — a condition GI experts refer to as dysbiosis — your immune system can misfire (or backfire) in devastating ways.
Inflammatory bowel disease, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, thyroid disease, and allergies are just a sampling of the medical conditions that result from immune errancy, and that are driven in part by gut dysbiosis. All of these conditions were once rare, but their prevalence has surged in recent decades.
‘Our environments and how we…
