Original subtitles

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[music playing]

[wind howling]

>> Oh, great, we got berries.

>> We got banana and berries.

Get the shot.

[chatter]

>> Oh, yes.

>> There we go, papa.

Three passion fruits or two?

There we go.

>> Excuse me.

>> Whoa.

[laughter]

[chatter]

>> I'm just checking the ticketsales for tonight's event.

And it looks like we've gotalmost 100 people, which

is good.

This is us.

[chatter]

>> If anybody has any questions,let someone else know.

Because I got to get ready.

For those of you who don'tknow me, my name is Kale Brock.

And it is the name I was given when I was born.

It's on my birth certificate.

I didn't change it to suitthe trendy foods and stuff.

And I'm a journalist and reporter

and have been reporting onand talking about the gut

and the microbiome and how it impacts your life

for the past five or six years.

It's been a fascinatingjourney, and I can tell you

that there are some veryexciting things coming down

the pipeline, some ofthem literally coming down

the pipeline.

Thank you.

[music playing]

We're heading into a medical center

to see a molecular geneticist.

>> And what are we going to do there?

>> What are we doing there?

We're going to have alook at my poo, basically.

I never thought I'd say thatto the camera, but now I have.

I think as a journalistand researcher on the gut

microbiome, it's probably responsible of me

to have a look at my owngut bugs under the scope.

So that's what we're going to do today.

Hello.

>> Hi, Kale.

Welcome to the Smart DNA Lab.

>> Thank you.

I believe you have my poo--

>> Yeah, let's go take a look.

>> --here, somewhere.

I've come to see Dr. Margie Smith, who

is a molecular geneticiststudying the microbiome.

The microbiome is essentially the makeup

of different microbes from bacteria

to parasites and yeast, whichlive on and inside of you.

And to test a microbiome,you need a poo sample.

>> Poop can tell you quitea lot about your gut health.

And we rely on a fingerprintingtechnique, if you like.

So each bacteria has its own fingerprint.

So we can drill down to species level

to define what is actuallyin the microbiome.

The attention that we'reseeing in this area is huge.

Because we've finallyrealized that the microbiome

and the metabolites and the bacteria produced

have a major impact on our health.

>> We have microbes livinginside our digestive system.

And it's a very complex microbial community.

There are bacteria.

There are viruses, fungi,protozoa, worms, slugs,

all kinds of creatures.

And all of these creatures live together

in harmony in a healthy person.

They plant each other.

They harvest each other.

They eat each other.

They control each other, and they do not

allow any one of them to overgrow and to dominate

the scene.

Problem is, we human beings arevery good at creating imbalance

on our planet.

When we take antibiotics, whenwe eat chemical-laden food that

is grown for us by our chemicalagriculture, when we take

any other chemicals into the body,

a part of that microbial community

gets damaged, which meansthe balance is upset.

So when that community is not balanced

and certain microbes are in excess

and other microbes are not there,

we don't digest food well.

We don't absorb it well, andwe develop multiple nutritional

deficiencies.

At the same time, this pathogenic microbes

digest food that we swallowin their own sweet way,

converting it into a wholehost of very toxic substances.

And they damage theintegrity of our gut wall,

making it porous and leaky.

Holes develop literally in the gut wall.

So these toxic chemicals thatthese microbes have created

absorb.

They absorb into the bloodstream and get

distributed all over the body.

And wherever they get to, they cause trouble.

They will cause disease.

If they get in the brain, they could

cause any group of symptomsthe brain can produce.

And sometimes these group of symptoms

can fit into an establisheddiagnostic label,

such as bipolar disorderor depression or anorexia

or schizophrenia or autism.

Indeed, every chronic disease, whether it's

mental or physical disease,begins in the digestive system.

>> The microbial cells in ourbody are estimated to vastly

outnumber our own human cells.

Most of these little guys liveinside your digestive system.

In fact, you can have up to2 kilograms worth in there.

The person sitting next to you right now

might share around 99% of thesame human DNA as yourself,

but only 10% of the same microbial DNA.

So experts are now saying that it's

these microbes and the differences

in our microbiome genetics whichaccount for a large part of who

we are as unique human beings.

>> The microbiomes are very complex.

We can think of it actuallyas a complex organ now.

And it has very wide rangingimpact on human health.

We now understand that thegut microbiome interacts

with the immune system,metabolic responses, and brain

function in the host.

So at this time, we think that establishing

a healthy microbiome is essential.

>> Every few years, there'sgreater understanding

of different systems within the body.

And over the last decade or so there's greater,

I suppose, acknowledgmentof the role of bacteria,

both in our gastrointestinalsystem, but also on our skin.

The gut's responsible for our mood.

It's responsible for our interpretation

of our environment.

It alters the way inwhich we feel about life.

>> So we have bugs everywhere.

We have in our sinuses, our ears.

We have on our skin.

We have them in our digestive tract.

Everywhere you look, there arebugs that live symbiotically

with us.

>> Bacteria don't just sitthere and chomp away on whatever

remnants have managed tomake it past your stomach.

They're there to produce metabolites.

Those metabolites mightfire up your immune system,

your innate immune system, or they

might work really well withit and keep inflammation

at bay in your body.

>> It has multiple functions,but one of the most important

one is what's called colonization resistance,

where it prevents us fromcolonizing with new bugs that

might like to infect us.

Unless we damage itpartially with antibiotics,

then, yes, it colonizes.

>> Now we're starting to understand that keeping

the bugs healthy within ourbody and keeping, I suppose,

a really nice, healthyenvironment for our bacteria is

a far better thing to dothat than to try and kill

everything.

When you think about how muchantibiotics we're using just

in health care, let alonein our farming practices

and our food preparation,it's a massive problem.

We have to scale back on antibiotic use.

>> We are decimating a very,very important symbiotic

relationship with these bacteria.

>> What we have learned overthe last few decades is that

actually there are many,many more microbes that are

beneficial to us than are actually harmful to us.

Antibiotics are associatedwith damage to the microbiota,

and have also beenassociated with the increased

risk of thenon-communicable disorders.

Multiple courses orprolonged use of antibiotics

can cause a permanent state of degradation

that then acquires its own resilience

and is much harder to recover from.

>> If you put the microbiomeinto a state of flux,

what recolonizes may not be healthy.

>> A lot of the good bugs thatwe've lost in our gut are not

probiotics, and so you can never replace those.

We often see a spiral downwardsof people where they're

given antibiotics for infection, and then

something else pops up, and they've actually

been made more susceptible to infection

by being treated withantibiotics because when you

wipe out the good bugs that are strengthening

the immune system, they're obviously

less able to resist infection.

In your gut, you have receptorsfor your immune system called

Peyer's patches.

And that's the principlewindow that the immune system

has on the outside world.

And if you've got lots of badbugs stuck to your Peyer's

patches, then the immune system says,

ah, we've got to try and kill those off.

We'll produce inflammation.

There are all sorts of health consequences

that flow on from there.

The microbiota is less able to support health

and more likely to promote disease.

We're talking about allergicdisease, autoimmune disease,

metabolic conditions, suchas diabetes, Type 1 and 2.

We have obesity, cardiovasculardisease and stroke all

linked in with metabolic disarray.

We have some cancers.

And we have neurodevelopmentalproblems now afflicting

modern society.

That's not just Alzheimer's, it's

depression, it'sschizophrenia, it's ADHD.

It's all of these common illnesses

that we're seeing increasingrapidly in modern society.

>> As a young person, I tookmultiple courses of antibiotics

due to persistent chest infections.

And it wasn't until laterthough that I found out

about the damage this mighthave done to my gut microbiome.

According to Dr. Margie, my microbiome

is looking pretty solid comparedto the Australian population.

My capacity todownregulate inflammation

is quite impressive.

Significantly, though, it'smy microbial diversity,

an important indicator of microbiome health,

which is showing up as a little concerning.

Normally, a wide variety of bugs in your gut

is a positive sign of health.

Mine, though, is a little low, and this

could be the result of the antibiotic treatment

I had when I was a teenager.

I'm wondering if I can increasethat diversity somehow.

Is there anyone in the world who hasn't

been exposed to antibiotics?

>> Well, pretty much everyonein Western society has been

exposed to antibiotics.

I mean, you have to go to aculture, an ancient culture,

where they're eating theirnative diet, where they're not

exposed to all the processedfoods-- so the carbohydrates,

the sugars that we have in our Western society,

living a more traditional diet.

>> Could it be, I wonder, thatmodern society is actually

causing all our gut health issues?

Potentially then if I removemyself from these things,

I wonder if I could positivelyimpact my microbiome health,

in particular, the diversityof the bugs in my gut?

What if I were to go to oneof these cultures somewhere

around the world and have alook at their microbiomes,

bring some samples back for you, but also

see how my microbiomechanges whilst I'm there.

Would that be interesting?

>> I think that would be amazing.

It would be really exciting to see

what happens to yourmicrobiome during that time.

>> Biggest question, though,I suppose, is, where do I go?

[jet engine roars]

[MUSIC - THE SALVADORES, "WILSON"]

"Wilson, you are a good friend on the seaside

till the very end.

We played air hockey.

I spent all of my Dollarmite money."

>> We're going to have to do--we to check out how deep that

water is and see if the sandis going to be very squishy.

So--

>> I've got to test the depth.

>> You do.

You have to walk across it.

>> Why am I doing it though?

Why can't someone else do it?

>> Why?

>> It's my doco.

[MUSIC - THE SALVADORES, "WILSON"]

"This town, this town has got me on my knees.

Fuck you, Los Angeles."

>> Three days of traveling,and we've arrived.

We're deep in the Namibian bushin the Nyae Nyae Conservancy,

far from any major civilization, but right

in the heart of San territory.

The San, commonly referredto as the Bushmen,

are an ancient hunter-gatherer tribe

who have lived in southern Africa

for 60,000 years, which makes them

one of the first modern human societies.

Genetically speaking, the San are often

considered the true ancestorsof today's human being.

So from a gut and microbiome standpoint,

they're the perfectparticipants for further study.

[music playing]

It's been a long day, but we're finally here,

and we're going to go meet everybody now.

It's real Bush territory.

>> Simco.

>> Simco?

>> Yeah.

>> I'm Kale.

>> OK, welcome.

>> Nice to meet you.

These are the crew.

>> The Bushmen follow atraditional hunting-gathering

lifestyle.

And they work closely with the land.

They know everything about the land

and the environment around it.

They've been pushed tolimited areas, I suppose.

And then with the introduction of people from Europe,

the same thing continued.

And they're now in very remoteareas, just like this one

here in and around the Kalahari.

But that is, again, now limited as well.

So they're not found in too many places.

This organization has got a conservancy here

where they can actually work with the Bushmen

and allow them to actuallydo what they traditionally

would do and working withthem to maintain that.

>> For the next week, I'llbe living as the San do.

No phone, no laptop, no luxuries, no nothing.

At the end of the week, I'm going

to test my microbiome tosee how it changes whilst

living the San lifestyle.

And to be honest, I don'treally know what to expect.

One of the first things I noticed about the San

is that the majority of themare quite lean and exhibit great

vitality, even in theolder members of the tribe.

They move easily and have a natural bubbliness,

which is really infectious.

Unfortunately, for the San as a whole,

this village represents a tiny subset

of the entire population who predominantly do not

experience good health.

The further removed fromsociety and Western influence,

the healthier the San get,which is why what we're doing

is so precious.

They have very littleaccess to modern medicine

and antibiotics here.

And from a microbiome standpoint,

that's very important.

First up on the plan is to goharvesting for some local bush

food.

>> [non-english speech]

>> Every day, a gathering untilI have more for the village

and their livestock.

>> So you can store some in the village?

>> Yeah.

So we also share.

Yeah.

>> So you're not justcollecting food for yourself.

You're collecting for everybody.

>> Yeah, I collect from everybody.

>> Yeah.

Is that reallyimportant, the community?

>> Yeah, it's really important.

Of course, you are the young one,

so you're supposed to bringsomething to the others.

>> How old are you?

>> I'm 31 years old.

>> 31?

>> Yeah.

>> There you go.

>> Yeah.

They're called bush potatoes.

>> [non-english speech]

>> Bush potatoes.

>> The plant is only outside.

So the root is inside in the ground.

So they go in to dig that root out.

>> Yeah.

And you eat it straightaway, this one?

>> Yeah.

>> [non-english speech]

>> So also, if you want, youcan roast it with root ash.

>> So raw or cooked?

Let's try raw.

I'm excited.

>> This is enough for us.

But we're not gathering one.

We're just gathering a lot of them.

>> Yeah.

>> So we have a lot of food in the village.

So everyone have a bush potato.

>> Yeah.

Should we try some?

>> Taste.

>> That seems quite soft, actually.

Thank you.

>> [non-english speech]

>> It tastes very starchy.

>> [non-english speech]

>> Like a Willie's potato.

>> [non-english speech]

>> I can just imagine all thestarches and carbohydrates

in this that are verygood for the gut bacteria.

Do you feel like you're very healthy?

>> Yeah.

Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> Vitamin inside.

>> Lots of nutrition in there.

Yeah, yeah.

Cheers.

One of the most stark differences

in diet between traditionalcultures like the San

and us in the West is theamount of fiber we consume.

Overwhelmingly, those in the West

are reported to consume much less fiber

than is optimal to maintaingastrointestinal health.

One of the hallmarks of atraditional hunter-gatherer

diet is a truckload of fibereach and every single day.

[music playing]

>> The way fiber helps your gut is not solely,

but principally through theboost effect to good bacteria

in your gut.

>> We know that if you changeyour diet from one type

of eating or style of eatingto another, within 24 hours,

you will have shifted the majorplayers in your microbiome.

>> One particular type offiber, which is receiving a lot

of attention is resistant starch.

>> Resistant starch is a carbohydrate source,

a fuel source for our microbiome in our gut.

We need to have it.

So rice, bananas, tubers, yams, all

of those sorts of things thatcontain resistant starch are

essential for our microbiome.

If we don't have them, ourbacteria cannot thrive.

And if our bacteria can'tthrive, we can't thrive.

>> Most starch is easily digested.

However, resistant starch is not.

Instead, it becomes food for your gut bacteria.

Starch is dissolved in the small intestine

and then absorbed by your body, providing you

with energy and nutrition.

But the remaining non-digestible portion

is called resistant starch.

And this resistant starchcontinues its journey

through your gut and arrivesat the large intestine.

Here, we see the resistant starch

exposed to the probiotic bacteria

of the large intestine.

Some of these probiotic bugsspecialize in breaking down

the resistant starch.

This breakdown process provides the bacteria

with the fuel they need to survive.

As they use the starch for energy,

they release small carbohydratemolecules which the neighboring

bacteria feed on.

As these bacteria feed, theyexcrete even smaller molecules

as waste.

One of the final wasteproducts is called butyrate,

a highly anti-inflammatory fatty acid,

which is also an energy source for your body.

As this butyrate builds up, it is absorbed

by the large intestine.

And its presence encourages blood

to flow into the surrounding vessels,

keeping the tissue healthy.

If your diet includes enough resistant starch,

these cells will use butyrateas their main source of energy.

Here, we can see the molecular surface of one

of the intestinal cells.

The surface is covered in special proteins

that actively pump butyratemolecules into the cell.

Once inside, they can be harvested for energy.

Among an array of health benefits,

butyrate could stop us gettingcertain types of cancer.

Intestinal cells are sensitive to DNA damage

caused by environmental,diet, and lifestyle factors.

This cell's DNA has been damaged,

resulting in a mutation.

More damage could accumulate over time

as the cell divides, whichcould lead to colorectal cancer.

But a steady supply ofbutyrate allows the damage

to be more easily detected, and the cell

can activate a suicide program in response.

Because the damaged cell destroys itself,

it can't progress to form a cancer.

>> [non-english speech]

Thank you.

Thank you.

One thing that you notice is that most

of the foods that we've hadtoday are carbohydrates.

And when we look at the microbiomes

of these traditional cultures, we

find that often these sort of carbohydrates

contain no starches, whichactually nourish and diversify

the microbiome.

So being out here, you cansee it's no surprise why

that's the case.

It's pretty cool.

>> The microbiome in ourgastrointestinal tract is

influenced by everythingthat goes into our mouth.

So a little bit of fermentedfood, lots of vegetables,

heaps of food that's maybebeen washed, but not sprayed

with pesticides.

So organic food's a great way to go.

These are the sorts of things that we

want to be doing to make surethat the microbiome in our gut

is really good.

>> [non-english speech]

>> Maybe this one?

>> [non-english speech]

>> Thank you.

It's got a hard seed in there.

>> [non-english speech]

>> Oh, it tastes beautiful.

It tastes like vanilla.

It's got vanilla.

>> Nutrition has a bigimpact on our microbiomes.

Our preservatives, artificial sweeteners,

they all have an impact on our microbiome.

They all interact with the bugs in our gut.

>> The long-term diet plays acritical role in establishing

an ongoing healthy microbiota.

Short-term changes in yourdiet have very rapid effects,

but also once you stop that,they're lost very rapidly.

>> To me, the bugs make up 80%of the equation and the diet

20%.

>> And I think if we followeda diet that's kind of 80-20,

much the same as the Greeks orSardinians or the Okinawans do,

we might start to get statistics like they do.

They don't have Alzheimer's.

They don't have heart disease.

They don't die from cancer.

These guys are living a really long time,

and they don't stress toomuch about their food.

The further we go into extremes,the harder it is on the body.

>> So in our language we called it chocho.

>> Chocho?

>> Yeah, chocho.

>> Chocho.

>> So--

>> It smells quite musky.

>> If we go back, when theyroast it, you will taste.

>> Yeah.

Yeah, so we can taste it later.

So there we go.

>> Yeah.

We called it, in ourlanguage we called it "j-ah."

>> "J-ah?"

>> "J-ah."

>> "J-ah."

>> Yeah, a "j-ah."

>> Looks like a pineapple.

>> Yeah, it's like a pineapple.

>> [non-english speech]

>> It tastes like a sweet--

it's almost like a citrusy watermelon.

That's how I would describe it.

It's good.

[cheering]

I'm surprised at the abundance of food

available from the landsurrounding the San's village.

And I know that my microbiome will

be making some shifts already.

As the day warms up, we begin to feel thirsty.

But rather than head back to camp for water,

the San look underground.

>> [non-english speech]

>> One of our guides digs deepin the ground for something

called a water root.

And this simpleinteraction with the soil

is enough to contribute to thepopulation of gut microbiota

that the San have.

In fact, environmental interaction

may be a key player in establishing

a location-dependent microbiome signature,

helping the San to thrive inthis particular environment.

>> [non-english speech]

So this teeming with soil,microbes, fiber, straight in.

Very moist.

Tastes like a cucumber.

>> [non-english speech]

>> And everybody shares.

>> Yeah, and tomorrow, if we do a hunting.

We do a hunting for full day.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> [non-english speech]

>> Ah!

>> Whole new perspective on a drinking game.

>> You know, we are limitingour exposure to our environment.

And in doing so, we're actually having

an impact on the microbiome.

It's kind of like anartificial cleanliness, really.

>> The results of being too clean are now that

we're getting more allergies, more asthma,

more sensitivities, and they'remore dangerous than what they

ever have been before.

And we're now getting diseases that

used to only affect peoplein old age in younger years,

primarily because the immunesystem is just not geared up

to be able to protect us aswell as what it used to be.

>> So food allergy is oneof these non-communicable

disorders that have increaseddramatically in recent decades.

Many researchers around the world

have been working on aparticular approach called

oral immunotherapy to treat food allergy.

And this involves feeding a child

the food they're allergic to,starting at very low doses,

building up to a higherdose, and then continuing

on that higher dose.

Only a small subset of children seem

to be able to gain toleranceafter oral immunotherapy.

I combined a particular probiotic,

a lactobacillus rhamnosusstrain, together

with oral immunotherapy to treat peanut allergy.

We randomized 62 childrenwith peanut allergy

to either receive ourprobiotic peanut immunotherapy

treatment or a placebo.

We treated them with thiscombined probiotic peanut

therapy every day for 18 months.

We then stopped thetreatment, we waited a month,

and then challenged them to peanut

to see if they had developed tolerance.

To our surprise and delight, we found that

over 80% of children whoreceived our probiotic peanut

therapy developed toleranceand went home eating peanut,

as compared to only 4% in the placebo group.

Immune responses to peanut had moved away

from allergy towards tolerance.

And these immune changes werepersistent four years later.

This long-lasting effect is associated

with long-lasting clinicalbenefit for these children

with peanut allergy, who nowno longer have peanut allergy.

>> My name is Natasha Campbell-McBride.

I'm a medical doctor.

And I'm the creator of theGAPS nutritional protocol.

GAPS stands for Gut And Psychology Syndrome

and Gut And Physiology Syndrome, which

is based on the functionalcomposition of our gut flora,

the microbial community that lives

inside our digestive system.

So GAPS' nutritional protocol, in my opinion,

should be the base treatmentfor every chronic disease,

no matter how far away from thedigestive system it develops.

Whether it is a mentalillness, a learning disability,

an autoimmune disease, an allergy, asthma, eczema,

skin condition, urinary condition,

or any other chronic degenerative condition,

we have an epidemic ofGAPS in the Western world,

and this epidemic isgetting deeper and deeper

with every generation.

The babies that are born today, this year,

have worse gut flora than babies who

were born even a couple ofyears ago or five years ago.

Because every generation getsworse and worse gut flora.

And this is the real epidemic of GAPS,

of abnormal gut flora and allthe illnesses connected to it.

The environment we human beingshave created on our planet

is unfit for our children to come into.

This is not genetics.

Genetics have nothing to do with this.

This is purely lifestyle anddiet and the environment.

We talked about what GAPS is.

These children were born witha perfectly normal brain.

These were perfectly normalbabies at the moment of birth.

But they acquire abnormal gut flora

from their parents from day one.

C-section babies acquired their flora

from the hands of people who look after them,

from the nipples of the mother,from the skin of the mother,

from the environment.

That's why research showsthat the c-section babies have

a much lower diversity ofmicrobes in their gut flora.

So their gut flora is also damaged right

from the beginning.

Breastfeeding went out offashion at the same time,

as all the formula feedingcame out in the market.

Breastfeeding is essential for the baby

to develop normal,healthy, diverse gut flora.

Children who are bottle feddevelop completely different

gut flora from children who were breastfed.

And that abnormal gut flora in the child

predisposes them usually to allergies,

to asthma, eczema, and learning disabilities,

and various other problems.

When I started practicingas a medical doctor,

we were diagnosing onechild in 10,000 with autism.

In fact, when I was studying,when I was a medical student,

there were no autistic children.

We haven't seen one.

There were no autistic childrento show to us as students when

we were studying psychiatry.

It was so rare.

Today, in the English-speaking world,

we are diagnosing one child in 35, 36.

If that's not an epidemic,I don't know what is.

And the scientists have alreadyprojected that line to 2020s,

and they're predicting thatwe will be soon diagnosing

one child in two with autism.

And it's not going to stop there.

It will continue increasing.

How does a child develop autism?

I have no doubt that almost100% of autistic children

today were born with a perfectly normal brain.

These were perfectly normal babies.

But they acquired abnormalgut flora from day one

from their parents, and that gut flora

turned their digestive systeminto a major source of toxicity

in the body.

The child's brain is cloggedwith toxins coming out

of the digestive system.

All the information comingout of the sensory organs,

from the ears, eyes, tactilesensitivity, and so on,

turns into a noise in the child's brain.

And from that noise, thechild cannot derive any useful

information.

So in order to help all of thesechildren, what we need to do,

we need to start from the digestive system.

We need to drive out pathogenic microbes.

We need to restore the normal balance

of microbes in the gut flora.

We need to heal and seal the gut wall,

close all those holes in the gut wall

so the toxins stop leaking out.

GAPS diet is quite easy to cook and to prepare.

It is based on those traditionaldiets from indigenous cultures

all over the world.

We begin from the easiestto digest foods and the most

healing foods.

The most healing foods in the GAPS diet

are homemade meat stock, homemade soups, stews,

cooked vegetables and fermented foods.

This is the most healing foods.

This allows us to rebuild new gut lining,

rebuild new digestive system fairly rapidly.

And when that happens, that river of toxicity

stops coming from the gut to the brain,

and the brain cleanses itself.

From that moment on, the childcomes out of the toxic form

and starts learning.

The younger the child iswhen that moment happens,

the quicker children recoverand the more fully they recover.

So children under the age of 4 and 1/2,

maximum five, in my clinic, many of them

recovered from autism fully.

They have a real ability to shake autism off,

to learn, to catch up, andjust start developing normally.

It is reversible.

>> [non-english speech]

>> We're currently roastingthe [non-english speech],,

which is almost like a truffle.

They actually bury it underthe hot sand by the coals,

and after about 10 or 15minutes, we bring it out.

And I'm assuming it'sgoing to taste pretty good.

[laughter]

>> [non-english speech]

>> Do you want to see?

Oh, wow.

It tastes like, oh, wow.

That is so nice.

Delicious.

Good, yeah?

The San are a happy people.

In fact, more than that,they seem almost blissful.

Materially, they may be lessaffluent than us in the West.

However, their richness lies in the joy in life

they bring to each day.

And this may be more thanthe simple relaxed existence

of the San way of life.

Research is now finding that the gut microbiota

play a significant role inmaintaining our mental health.

In fact, the gut is now beingconsidered our second brain.

>> From the moment of conception,

all the way through to ouradult life until we die,

our brain and our gut areinterconnected through the same

neurology that originally gotit going in the first place.

>> A lot of ourneurotransmitters are made

in the gut.

If we're not making thosearomatic amino acids

through the shikimatepathway, through the bacteria,

we are not making our neurotransmitters.

Depression, anxiety are all increasing.

>> Nearly 40% of what circulatesin our blood originates

in our gut flora.

>> There was a study done atDeakin University showing that

diet can actually treatmajor depressive disorder.

They took a group of depressed patients

and assigned them either a whole foods,

Mediterranean-style diet, or social support.

After three months, the study found

that a third of thosepatients in the dietary group

met criteria for remissionof their major depression,

compared to only 8% fromthe social support group.

>> So if our gut's not in great shape,

then our minds aren't in great shape.

>> [non-english speech]

>> One way to test the fortitudeof the San's happiness is

to ask them if you can taketheir poo back to Australia

with you.

So what we've just done is we'veasked the village if we can

actually take some of their--

take some of their poo home, basically.

You know, microbiome testing kids.

And they're just discussing it now.

And we're hoping it doesn't sound

as weird as we think it does.

But it might.

>> How many do you want?

>> Three or four.

If-- OK.

>> OK, yeah.

[non-english speech]

>> So this is the kit.

>> [non-english speech]

>> And this is a-- looks like a spoon.

>> [non-english speech]

>> And so just a very small amount of poo.

And just in there.

Lid on.

>> And he will do it.

[laughter]

>> You come here and in thebushes, and we can just--

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

This is one of the moreawkward requests I've made.

So what we've done is ask each of the guys

to actually go out and do a poop,

and then they're going to come and grab me,

and I'm going to go and take a swab

and put it in our little testing kit.

So here we go.

OK.

>> I'm done.

>> You're ready?

>> Yeah.

>> OK, show me the way.

>> Yeah, this is the way.

[laughter]

>> Has anyone ever done this for you before?

Whew, it's a good one.

First time?

Well, there's a first for everything.

>> This is my first, yeah.

>> I'm sorry.

Well, it looks very healthy.

Oh gosh, it nearly got on my finger.

Done.

>> OK.

>> Number one, done.

Yeah, good.

I've never-- I'm just fillingout the details for each sample

so that we can identify everybody at the lab.

>> [non-english speech]

>> They all think this is hilarious.

>> '82.

>> 1982.

Do you know month?

>> January.

>> January.

>> January.

There's a lot of flies on me.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, well, that's all done.

Thank god.

And we're going to send thoseback to the lab in Australia,

and we'll see what they say.

[music playing]

>> You know, work doesn'tbecome mainstream for many years

in anything that's new.

All truth passes through stages.

It's first ridiculed.

Then it's violently opposed.

And then it becomes known as,we knew it all along, of course.

>> We guesstimate around 13 and1/2 thousand now we have done

and some are singleshots, mostly are double,

and some are 10 infusions in a row,

if we are starting to try andreverse inflammatory bowel

disease.

Then I came across a paper by Ben Eiseman,

the man who did the firstfecal transplant in Colorado.

And this guy was brilliant.

And he was hitting a problem,in that post-surgery he

would give antibiotics to someone who had had,

say, an operation in the abdomen and they've

got a bit of pneumonia,they were given antibiotics,

and then the patient develops diarrhea.

And they would develop diarrhea with what's

called pseudomembranous colitis,so severe that in that paper,

the death rate was 74% of thosewho developed pseudomembranous

colitis.

That's huge.

It's overwhelming.

And he had this idea of doing a fecal impact.

So the first case out offour-- and four out of four was

dramatic--

was given one enema, a second enema.

And the patient, as they described,

was in the terminal stages ofhis terrible illness, something

like that.

Within 24 hours, the diarrhea went away.

Another enema, and the patientwas discharged 10 days later,

having spent like 46 days in intensive care,

but under specialists, doctors.

What fixed him?

Poo.

Hasn't even gone to university.

Wasn't a specialist's poo either.

It was a nurse's poo.

So we're more on the cutting edge

of figuring out what works.

For example, we treated three patients this year

with constipation, and we were surprised

that their MS disappeared.

We write them up as threecases where MS was reversed.

We did all the MRIs.

We had a couple of patientswith Parkinson's who

were re-examined by the neurologist

and can't find any Parkinson's anymore.

And I think there's going tobe a lot of changes occurring

in the way we practice medicine.

Because in the past, there wassome divided among specialties,

but now we're crossing specialties, you know?

If you do an FMT and a neurological condition

gets reversed, the neurologists are

going to start practicingfecal transplantation.

They will.

When there's a "crapsule," aswe call it, to be prescribed,

of course, they will do that.

There may be some pure floras from which

we will extract bacteria thatmay reverse, say, diabetes.

And it's very much in the cards.

There are bacteria that canincrease your metabolism

and reverse obesity.

So I've got all hopes for components

of these untainted gut floras, but we'd

love to have some pure, reallyprimordial never previously

exposed to antibiotics gut flora donors.

Yeah, it'd be great.

[chanting]

>> My time with the San has been incredible,

and the week flies by in an instant.

Tonight is the last night, andthe San put on a celebration

for us.

The fire gives them a chance to sing and dance

and to bring good fortuneon our activities tomorrow.

The simplicity of the Sanlifestyle is beautiful to see.

Their entire day is made upof a constant interaction

with their immediate environment.

And I know that thisrelationship has a big part

to play in their apparent health and well-being.

For a society whose culture and even biology

may provide so manybenefits to us in the West,

it's a bittersweet feelinghaving our trip come to an end

so soon.

But tonight is for having fun.

Last night, we got up to go tothe toilet a couple of times,

and there were hyena makingnoises just over the bushes.

And we had that confirmed thismorning when we found tracks

around the camp, where thehyena were actually coming

in and getting a closer look.

Today, we're going to get, hopefully,

more familiar with the animalsbecause we're going hunting.

So hopefully we can actuallyget something and come home.

I'm told it's a pretty rare occasion

to actually bag an animal, buthopefully today it happens.

>> [non-english speech]

The San have become famous forthat hunting techniques, which

employ the use of poisonous arrows

to bring down large game.

So this is where the poisoncomes from, that we actually

lace the arrows with that we're going

to use when we go hunting.

It comes from this wormfound in the marula tree.

And the guys are going to prepit now and then actually put it

on arrows.

The poisonous concoction isso dangerous it can bring down

a fully grown giraffe.

The hunters are verycareful when handling it,

ensuring they have no open cutsthrough which the poison can

enter the bloodstream.

>> [non-english speech]

In the same way they're doing here,

in the past, the older mans,they was come close together

like this, and they sit andapply the poison to the arrows.

And the next man, which iscoming to them, when he come,

he make a mistake, andthe poison stab his feet.

They tried to give him the medicines,

but it was a problem.

Just one minute, then the persons die.

>> In one minute they died?

>> Yeah.

>> Needless to say, I leavethis one to the experts.

And while the hunters apply the poison,

I get a lesson in shooting, withthe beginner arrows, of course.

>> And you pull it.

>> OK, so like this?

>> Like that and then, yeah.

>> Like that?

>> That's good.

Oh, I think that side.

>> Woo!

The hunt is loosely led by the eldest

of the group, a man of almost 70 years of age.

The old man leads becausehe is the teacher.

He has the most experienceand can offer wisdom

during the hunt.

[non-english speech]

So we've just found some tracks for a kudu, which

are fresh from this morning.

So I think we're goingto try and track the kudu

and follow along.

I'm quite nervous and excited.

Now, I'm really letting theexperts go ahead a little bit

because I think we'regetting closer to the animal.

It's still quitenerve-wracking because I'm

carrying deathly poisonousarrows, a spear with which I

don't really know what to do.

But I'm still hoping we get one.

We walk for hours followingwhat looked like ambiguous marks

in the earth.

However, the hunters assure methat the kudu is not far ahead.

It's just on the move.

As we close in on the kudu, theSan become tense and serious.

They whisperinstructions to the group

and move forward towards the sound of the kudu.

The hunters urge me onward.

And at this point, all I can think about

is why the inexperiencedtourist with the white clothes,

holding a spear he doesn't know how to use,

is heading up the kudu hunt.

But I'm so lost in themoment that I move anyway.

The hunters stalk forward, moving as close

as they can to the kudu.

They're about to fire.

The kudu escapes, and wemust walk home empty-handed.

The sourness I feel at missing the kudu

slowly dissipates into a realization

that the San way of life would say to let it go.

The reality of San life is thatanimal protein is a rare treat.

And thus, a diet rich in plant foods

is what's necessary for them to survive.

And I think there mightbe a lesson in that, too.

OK, so it's the last day.

We're going to test my poo.

As you do.

[music playing]

It's a sad goodbye, but wemust head home to Australia

to find out just what sort of bacteria

and other microbes the Sanhave present in their gut.

I wonder also how my microbiome has changed

while spending time here.

Before we leave though, thereis one last thing I have to do.

Could I order a kudu steak, please?

>> Steak?

I know what I'm having.

>> OK, so it's not the same as what we wanted.

However, this will have to suffice for now.

It's as good as I expected.

Hello.

>> Hi, Kale.

>> After six weeks my microbiometests are ready for analysis.

You got some data for me?

>> I've got some fantasticdata to show you--

>> Lovely.

>> Come with me.

>> Let's have a look.

So what have we got?

>> So what have we got?

So we're looking at the majorplayers in your gut microbiome.

So this is before you went,and this is when you came back.

So it's as if you've had akind of microbiome transplant

between Australia and Africa, you know?

It's been a big shift in your microbiome.

>> In only one week with the San,

my microbiome has shiftedfrom a low range of diversity,

which is associated with poor health,

into a much higher range.

In fact, I've improved mymicrobial diversity by 12%.

>> It catapulted you out ofthis lower percentile here,

all the way over to here--

>> Wow.

>> --within the normal range.

And in fact, you're sitting in between two

of the African people, with their microbiomes.

So you've really increasedyour biodiversity

in a very healthful way during that time.

>> From what you found of their microbiomes,

what could you sort of ascertain that they eat?

>> Well, their diet looks to be very,

very different to what an Australian diet is.

And that's why we're seeing that shift.

You know, they have probably alot more plant-based nutrition

in there as well.

Their gut PH looks to be reallynice because Bacteroidetes

are expanded.

It's a completelydifferent sort of profile.

>> The San, on average,had significantly healthier

microbiome samples comparedto the average Australian,

myself included.

Their inflammatory microbes are vastly

outweighed byanti-inflammatory microbes.

And their microbialdiversity is much more varied

than us in the West.

As you can see, though, aftera week living with them,

my own diversity had begunto match that of the San.

Oh, that's fascinating.

I'm speechless.

I don't know what to say about it.

It's amazing.

"The San Diet," it's a newbook that's coming out.

[laughs]

>> "The San Diet."

Well, it looks like it's reallyworked for your microbiome

in a very short space of time.

>> Wow.

That's really amazing, ain't it?

>> As a practitioner, there'sso much to take away from these

results.

Firstly, I love the fact that food alone

can change the microbiome.

And secondly, I love thespeed at which it changes.

A little change in your environment

results in a big change in your body.

And you can magnify that.

And you should be encouraged by that.

>> I'm so excited about what we learned.

It doesn't mean that we allhave to go to Africa to change

our microbiome, right?

What it means is that we canchange our dietary intake,

we can improve our microbiome.

Whether those bacteria survivewhen you got back to Australia,

I truly don't know.

It's probably a little bitdoubtful because, remember,

you're no longer samplingtheir environment.

>> The greatest thing that wesee from this is that you can

change your gut bychanging your environment.

And you may not need to take a supplement.

These days, we're lookingfor capsules and powders

and all kinds of things, butmaybe if we kept it simple

and just go down to the parkor went out into nature,

rode our bike, or crawled in the mud,

things could be really good for us.

>> Mother nature created ourbodies to get our nutrition

from food, not from pills.

Food industry has changed all our recipes

to suit its commercial agenda.

Because your health is noton their agenda at all.

They're not responsible for your health.

Get in the car, drive outside the city,

find organic mixedfarms, introduce yourself

to these people, and start buying directly

from these farms.

Cook everything from fresh ingredients.

Buy everything in the shape and form

that mother nature created it.

Do not buy any processed ingredients.

Nothing processed is bought.

Nothing in tins or packets or powders

or in any kind of processed shape or form.

If you're providing the right quality materials,

if you're controlling your gut flora,

making sure that it'sdominated by beneficial species

of microbes, then your body has a real chance

to rebuild itself from quality materials,

from quality, healthy, vibrant young cells.

And as a result, you will have ahealthy liver and a healthy gut

wall and healthy lungs and healthy heart

and healthy brain.

It is difficult to changethe diet in your family.

Of course, it isdifficult. It's hard work.

But what you're doing when you're

changing the diet in your children

and in the whole family, youare laying a solid foundation

for a happy, successful life.

When you start changing the diet,

and when you are firm and strongwith it, and you don't back up,

you are taking that powerback into your own hands,

and you lay a wonderfulfoundation for your children

to be healthy and well for the rest of their lives.

>> I think an optimal microbiomeexists, but it's not one.

I think it's multiple, and it's unclear

whether it's tens, hundreds, thousands

of different signatures that cansupport optimal human health.

It's very likely that we cansee traditional societies

with very different microbiotathat still support health.

>> If your diet's verynarrow, and it's very white,

and very simple, then maybewhat you could do is increase

the different colors and thedifferent variety of fruits

and vegetables that go intoyour diet so that you're getting

a broader variety to feeddifferent types of bacteria

in your microbiome.

>> Whole food, high fiber diets.

So lots and lots of fiber.

That's what we need to feed our microbiome.

We're talking about real food.

So it grew in the ground.

It didn't come out of a packet.

It was once alive, andyou can actually recognize

what it is on your plate.

If you can't do that, probably not a good idea

to put it in your mouth.

>> Because modern medicineis good at keeping you alive

for a long time, the real question is,

do you want to thrive during that time?

Do you want to thriveduring your 80 years here,

and do you want to maybe even make it to 120?

>> I think the optimal microbiome does exist.

I just don't think we've found it yet.

And that's probably the biggest problem

because we're striving for this perfection,

but we don't really know where to start.

>> I don't know that there isany one optimal microbiome.

The good quote unquote, "bugsin you" that do a set of jobs,

if you like, in your gut may be totally

different to the good bugs inme that are doing the same jobs.

>> Why do you want to lose the weight?

Why do you want to be around longer?

And why do you want to thrive?

Is it so you can see your grandkids grow up?

Is it so you can walk your sondown the aisle at his wedding?

All these different things.

That's really where this becomesvery important, because that's

what some of these cultures are getting

who have this great health.

They don't die from cancer--

the Okinawans, the Ikarians.

They're experiencing amazing health.

>> So when I see someone withan imbalanced microbiome,

I know that with thecorrect application of diet

and lifestyle we can shiftthat microbiome very quickly.

That means that we're goingto have a positive impact

on that person's life.

>> My gut feeling trying to lookaround the corner will be that

there will be a lot ofmicrobiomes that are compatible

with health.

Just like there's a lot of different people.

You can have short, tall,fat, and they're quite

compatible with normal health.

But it's a collection of bugs, and some

will have these missing,some will have those missing,

but they'll still be healthy.

But it's like medicine come alive, you know?

And we're starting torealize we just don't know

shh-- about shh--, you know?

[laughs]

[music playing]