Asthma and the Microbiome – What’s New with Rodney Dietert, Phd

Defeating Asthma Series uncovers New Hope for Asthma Management

In this second interview with Rodney Dietert, PhD Cornell University Professor Emeritus, Health Scientist Head of Translational Science + Education for SEED and the Author of the Human Super-Organism How the Microbiome is Revolutionizing the Pursuit of a Healthy Life we learn about:

* Advances in technology that have supported making the connections between the Microbiome and disease like Asthma

* Some useful things for both preventative medicine and to avoid disease

World Asthma Foundation: What’s new in the world of the microbiome?

Asthma and the Microbiome – What’s New with Rodney Dietert, Phd

Dr. Dietert: I think it’s making the connections. There were a lot of data collected early on and there were different technologies that have enabled us to characterize bacteria viruses, fungi, archaea in different ways and to different details. Now has been the process of figuring out ecosystems of these. Once you have technologies that you feel comfortable with, that you think have utility, then it’s a matter of understanding how these interact because bacteria don’t exist in our gut or in our airways or on the skin in isolation. There are communities and they are interacting not just with the mammalian cells of our body but with each other.

The ways in which they interact with each other to produce little ecological systems filled with different chemicals, different vitamin production, different ways to handle toxic metals are important. Understanding how you approach those communities and how you can do some useful things for both preventative medicine which is ideal, avoid the disease when you can and then more effective therapeutic integrative holistic approaches.

World Asthma Foundation: With that, Dr. Dietert, we certainly thank you for your time, all that you do for the microbiome and the community. Good afternoon, and thanks again.

Dr. Dietert: Well, and thank you for all you do with the World Asthma foundation, Bill.