本書帶讀者瞭解為什麽人體內的微生物體(microbiome)可能是維持健康的關鍵。   醫學研究正迎來一道新科技革命的曙光，研究微生物體的新論述將豎立疾病預防與治療的重大里程碑。人體本身即存在豐富多樣的微生物生態系統，相較於過去將這些菌叢視為健康大敵的狹隘觀念，醫界人士亞列修．法薩諾(Alessio Fasano)與蘇西．弗萊赫提(Susie Flaherty)透過本書闡釋腸內微生物菌叢對於人體健康具有的助益。   本書探討微生物體與發炎性腸道疾病(gut inflammatory disorders)、肥胖、神經系統疾病及惡性腫瘤等病症之間的關聯性、對於人體免疫系統的調節作用，並揭示益生元(prebiotics)、益生菌(probiotics)、合成益生菌(synbiotics)和精神益生菌(psychobiotics)等領域的研究發展。書中涵蓋的醫學新知將擴大讀者大眾的視野，重塑我們如何著手對抗疾病和維護健康的認知。   目錄   Preface   I: The Wisdom of a Microscopic Species 1: Evolutionary Biology Explains Bacterial Adaptability 2: The Ancestral Microbiome 3: Early Factors Influencing the Human Microbiome 4: Cracking the Codes: From the Human Genome to the Human Microbiome 5: Beyond Bacteria: Those Other “Omes” 6: The Microbiome Hypothesis: The Epigenetic Role of the Microbiome   II: The Microbiome’s Role in Disease 7: The Microbiome and Gut Inflammatory Disorders 8: The Microbiome and Obesity 9: The Microbiome and Autoimmunity 10: The Microbiome and Neurological and Behavioral Disorders 11: The Microbiome and Environmental Enteropathy 12: The Microbiome and Cancer   III: Manipulating the Microbiome to Maintain Health 13: From Association to Causation: A New Approach to Microbiome Composition and Function in Disease Development 14: Preventive Medicine: Monitoring the Microbiome for Disease Prediction and Interception 15: Treatments for Disease: Prebiotics, Probiotics, Synbiotics, and Postbiotics 16: Microbiome Research in Gut-Brain Axis Diseases: Psychobiotics 17: Artificial Intelligence, Synthetic Biology, and the Microbiome 18: Maintaining a Resilient Microbiome through Old Age   Epilogue: Why Studying Our Microbiome Is Important for Our Future