I received a copy of this book from the publisher to facilitate my review.  As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

The Complete Prebiotic & Probiotic Health Guide is a valuable resource.  However, it suffers from the same imbalance seen in other books about the microbiota (gut flora) and, in my opinion, is best used alongside other resources rather than on its own.

A Little Background

In case you aren’t familiar with the subject matter of the book, let me offer the “nutshell version.”  Our guts contain a vast array of bacteria, which serve a variety of functions.  What we eat impacts these bacteria, influencing the degree of variety present, the total number present, etc.  “Probiotics” are actual bacteria, or foods that provide bacteria.  “Prebiotics” are foods that feed the bacteria.  The breakdown of our healthy microbiota is a huge fundamental cause of many health problems today.

So What is the Book About?

The study of the microbiota is young and, unfortunately, there’s still a lot we don’t know.  However, we do know about a number of specific lifestyle choices that affect this gut flora: vaginal birth vs. cesarean section, breastfeeding, antibiotic use, diet, etc.  Learning more about how these factors impact our guts can help us make healthier choices.

After a brief discussion of what the gut microbiome is and how the digestive system works, the first half of the book is comprised of sections that deal with specific areas we can influence — choices like those I mentioned above.  These provide practical information for understanding the issue and applying the relevant knowledge.

For instance, the section about antibiotics discusses how antibiotics work, when antibiotics might be used, how to determine whether you need them, etc.

The emphasis of the book is on practical action you, as the reader, can take.

This seques into a plan for optimizing your gut microbiome.  The final half of the book is prebiotic- and probiotic-rich recipes.

My Take

The Complete Prebiotic and Probiotic Health Guide: A Vegetarian Plan for Balancing Your Gut Flora

There is a lot of information here, and I really appreciate the emphasis on the practical.  It’s written in language that anyone can understand.  Because of the emphasis on the practical, it’s very thorough in some details but omits others; that’s why I feel this would be best used within the context of other resources.  (Then again, I appreciate reading the theoretical information about health, so that might just be me.)

The only thing I dislike about this book is that it falls into the same trap I’ve seen in other gut flora-related books: it looks at the effect of the diet on the microbiome in isolation and doesn’t consider other ways our diets impact our health.  As a result, the author’s conclusions seem to be that a vegetarian diet is preferable, which I don’t believe is accurate or balanced.  It is undeniably true, however, that plentiful plant-based foods, including a wide variety, are essential for building or maintaining the gut microbiome, because they are the only way to feed the bacteria.

Consequently, the recipes are useful whether you also eat meat or not.  I do wish the recipes were more extensive, as I feel this particular collection is minimally helpful.  Probiotic options are fairly limited, sticking almost entirely to yogurt.

“Prebiotic” is essentially just high-fiber, which can be found virtually anywhere.  A stronger emphasis on other fermented foods would have been helpful, in my opinion, as that is where most people find themselves out of their depth.

Still, if you’re looking to improve your gut flora, The Complete Prebiotic & Probiotic Health Guide provides a good start-to-finish process for the average person, which is, I believe, what it set out to accomplish.