Overselling the Microbiome Award: The Microbiome Diet Book

Well, umm, I do not know what to say: The Microbiome Diet: The Scientifically Proven Way to Restore Your Gut Health and Achieve Permanent Weight Loss: Raphael Kellman MD: 9780738217659: Amazon.com: Books.  I got pointed to this book by Dorothy Timmermans and she wondered if this was a case of “overselling the microbiome” or not.  I guess I don’t know because I have not read the book.  Nor will I most likely.  But I think almost certainly it is a case of “Overselling the Microbiome” based just on reading the blurb on Amazon from the Publisher which I paste below.  It contains a litany of over the top statements:

Cutting-edge science has shown that the microbiome is the secret to healthy weight loss and to feeling healthy, energized, optimistic, and at the top of your game. The microbiome is a whole inner world that lives within your intestines—trillions of tiny microbes that help you extract the nutrients from your food, balance your mood, and sharpen your clarity and focus.

These beneficial bacteria make up a separate ecology within the body and have an enormous influence on your metabolism, your hormones, your cravings—even your genes. The microbiome’s health is intimately involved with yours: when it flourishes, you flourish. When it craves sugar, so do you. When it operates at peak efficiency, so does your metabolism. And when your microbiome is out of balance, you might find yourself gaining weight or unable to lose weight, no matter how much you exercise or how carefully you eat. To achieve your ideal weight, you need the help of your microbiome.

Now, drawing from nearly two decades of experience as a specialist in functional medicine and intestinal health, Raphael Kellman, MD, has developed the first diet based upon on these scientific breakthroughs. The Microbiome Diet offers an effective three-phase plan to heal your gut, reset your metabolism, and achieve dramatic, sustainable weight loss. The Microbiome Diet will help you…

Reset your metabolism

Free yourself from food cravings and uncontrollable appetite

Incorporate prebiotics, probiotics, and healing foods into every meal

Lose weight—and keep it off—with a nonrestrictive life plan

With delicious recipes, convenient meal plans, and helpful information on Microbiome Superfoods and Supersupplements—including prebiotics and probiotics—The Microbiome Diet gives you the tools to achieve your healthy weight, boost your mood, regain your mental focus, and be in your best shape for life.

Sound too good to be true?  Well, that is because it is.

Author: Jonathan Eisen

I am an evolutionary biologist and a Professor at U. C. Davis. (see my lab site here). My research focuses on the origin of novelty (how new processes and functions originate). To study this I focus on sequencing and analyzing genomes of organisms, especially microbes and using phylogenomic analysis View all posts by Jonathan Eisen