The Science

Biome Restoration: What is it?

It is now widely appreciated that humans did not evolve as a single species, but rather that humans and the micro- and macrobiomes associated with us have co-evolved as a “super-organism.”  Human evolution as a species and the evolution of the other organisms that live in and on us have always been intertwined.  Modernization, including our use of toilets, water purification, processed food and so on, may have led to the loss of components of our natural biome.  Biome supplementation encompasses the idea of adding a wider variety of natural organisms to the ecosystem of the human body.

Selection of the Best Species

Many companies sell probiotics. This helps support the microbiome, but it doesn’t help support the rest of the biome.  Helminths, or worms that inhabit the intestines of all mammals, have emerged as a leading candidate for supporting the ecosystem of the human body. Several species have risen to the top of the list as potential candidates for supporting the body’s ecosystem. Several nematode (roundworm) species have been considered, including whipworms and hookworms, but the safe isolation of these organisms from feces (either human or porcine) can be expensive, and some of the organisms can be transmitted from human to human, thus decreasing the utility of these organisms for use in the general population. On the other hand, at least one cestode (tapeworm) species does not pose any of these limitations: the cestode Hymenolepis diminuta is easily cultivated in grain beetles nor it cannot be transmitted from human to human. For information on the life cycle of Hymenolepis diminuta, click here.

Supplementing our biome: An idea for supporting the ecosystem of the human body.

One idea for supporting the ecosystem of the human body is to return to living in a pre-industrial society. People back then had a tremendous amount of biodiversity in their bodies. However, the resulting carnage from the spread of disease and starvation makes this idea unthinkable. Fortunately, a wide range of naturally occurring organisms for biome supplementation can be considered. The criteria are as follows:

(a) The organism provides biodiversity. It supplements the biome.
(b) The organism has little or no adverse effects on humans.
(c) The organism is easily controlled in terms of colonization: No uncontrolled colonization is possible given ordinary circumstances in post-industrial society.
(d) The organism should be amenable to reproducible cultivation at an affordable cost.

Biome Restoration provides just such an organism, HDC.