Robynne Chutkan - The Anti-Viral Gut: Tackling Pathogens from the Inside Out : Tackling Pathogens from the Inside Out

Dr. Robynne Chutkans deep expertise and ability to translate the most cutting-edge science come together in her important new book. Its the actionable plan we all need not just to survive, but to thrive and flourish during this new pandemic era.

Frank Lipman, MD, coauthor of the New York Times bestselling The New Health Rules

Robynne Chutkan is the fairy godmother of the microbiome. She shows us that our gut is tough when we treat it rightit can protect us and keep us happy and thriving. Good health begins from within! This book shows us how to keep our defenses strong.

Jane Esselstyn and Ann Crile Esselstyn, coauthors of The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook and Be a Plant-Based Woman Warrior

The Anti-Viral Gut provides simple ways to strengthen our natural defenses by catering to the needs of our microbial ecosystem through diet, mind-directed strategies, and healthy lifestyle choices. On the heels of one of the worst viral pandemics in historyand with others on the horizonthis book will provide you with the tools and strategies you need to protect yourself.

Emeran Mayer, MD, author of The Gut-Immune Connection

an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC penguinrandomhouse.com

Copyright 2022 by Robynne Chutkan, MD

Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Chutkan, Robynne, author.

Title: The anti-viral gut: tackling pathogens from the inside out / Robynne Chutkan.

Description: New York: Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House, [2022] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022017250 (print) | LCCN 2022017251 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593420836 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780593420843 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Gastrointestinal systemMicrobiology. | Gastrointestinal systemImmunology. | VirusesInactivation. | Medical virology.

Classification: LCC QR171.G29 C48 2022 (print) | LCC QR171.G29 (ebook) | DDC 612.3/2dc23/eng/20220808

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022017250

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022017251

Cover design: Nellys Liang

Cover image: Eva Almqvist / iStock / Getty Images Plus

Book design by Silverglass Studio

Neither the publisher nor the author is engaged in rendering professional advice or services to the individual reader. The ideas, procedures, and suggestions contained in this book are not intended as a substitute for consulting with your physician. All matters regarding your health require medical supervision. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be liable or responsible for any loss or damage allegedly arising from any information or suggestion in this book.

The recipes contained in this book have been created for the ingredients and techniques indicated. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require supervision. Nor is the publisher responsible for any adverse reactions you may have to the recipes contained in the book, whether you follow them as written or modify them to suit your personal dietary needs or tastes.

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Let us come together to learn from the past, understand the present, and prepare for the future.

Introduction

It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has.

Hippocrates

On January 20, 2020, the British-registered Diamond Princess departed Yokohama, Japan. Five days after leaving port, an eighty-year-old man on board disembarked to seek medical attention for a fever and cough. One week later, Hong Kong officials announced that the passenger, Mr. A, had pneumonia as a result of infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. The Diamond Princess outbreak represents the kind of experiment we cant do in real life: put a variety of people together in close quarters, expose them to a novel and highly contagious virus, and see what happens next. Ultimately, one in five people on board would become infected, with a fatality rate of about 2 percent. Those numbers, particularly the small but significant percent who died, and the larger unknown number who survived but continued to have symptoms lead us to one of the most important questions of this and future pandemics: Why them?

Why do some people suffer from severe and even fatal forms of viral illnesses like COVID, while others experience only mild symptoms or none at all? Why, despite repeated exposure, do some people never get infected? What determines who makes a complete recovery and who ends up plagued with post-viral long-haul symptoms? Is all of this just random luck, or are there important clues that could have predicted who would walk off the Diamond Princess and who would leave horizontally?

Those outcomes might seem random, but I assure you, they rarely are. Being on the winning team when battling viruses isnt because of good luck, or coincidence, or variations in viral virulence. Its due to differences in us, the hosts, and our defenses, and those differences are what determine your outcome. Put another way: its less about the potency of the pathogen and more about the health of the host.

The idea that host health matters as much as or even more than the virulence of the pathogen is validated every day by people who get up close and personal with viruses and never get sick. Even dangerous viruses like Ebola are able to successfully attack only about one in every three adults they come into contact with, and just a tiny percentage of children. In 0.5 percent of people, poliovirus crosses their gut lining, infects their nervous system, and causes crippling paralysis, while in the vast majority who are infected, it causes no symptoms at all. Even today with our arsenal of antiretroviral drugs, HIV can be a death sentence for some, while others live with the virus for years and never develop AIDS. Even more incredibly, about one in ten people are completely immune to HIV and will never become infected, even with repeated exposure.

It may seem like an outlandish idea that you, not the virus, are in the drivers seat, but its really just common sense when you think about it. Healthy people avoid or recover from life-threatening conditions all the time, while the less hardy and infirm succumb to minor ones. Thats true for cancer, heart attacks, viral infections, and virtually every other illness. Increased susceptibility and poor outcomes are in fact almost always predictable and preventable, or at the very least, forecastable and reducible. Simple risk factors assessed in an annual physical, such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, blood sugar, weight, and smoking status, are extraordinarily accurate in predicting risk for coronary artery disease and heart attacks. And counseling and strategizing about that risk and how to reduce it are much more effective than any drug or medical intervention. It boils down to addressing vulnerabilities and optimizing your bodys defensive capabilities. Unfortunately, were so alienated from our own innate host defenses that weve become dependent on pharmaceuticals as the only solution. Medications are critically important for those who need them, but for the majority of us, our bodys own ability to resist, heal, and recover from viruses is vastly superior.