Are We Too Clean? with Professor Brett Finlay

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here’s a little known secret: germs are good for you. Every single one of us has a complex and unique microbiome that lives on us and in us. It’s made up of microbes—things like bacteria and protozoa. Our microbiome plays a huge role in our health and, as microbiologist and University of British Columbia professor Brett Finlay has discovered, it is even connected to non-communicable illnesses like asthma or cardiovascular disease. That’s why pandemic-bred habits like cleaning surfaces with antibacterial wipes, or chronic use of hand sanitizer, can be so problematic: they kill bad germs, and good ones, too. Which prompts the question: is our COVID-caused mania for germ killing messing up our microbiome? In conversation with Medcan chief medical officer Dr. Peter Nord, Prof. Finlay answers these questions—and more.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br /></span><a href= "https://www.eatmovethinkpodcast.com/podcast/ep-69-finlay-microbiome"><span style="font-weight: 400;">https://www.eatmovethinkpodcast.com/podcast/ep-69-finlay-microbiome</span></a></p> <p><strong>Links</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You can find Brett Finlay on</span> <a href= "https://twitter.com/finlaylab?lang=en"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Twitter</span></a><span style= "font-weight: 400;">. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Read the paper he lead-authored for PNAS on the hygiene hypothesis, COVID-19 and its impact on the human microbiome</span> <a href= "https://www.pnas.org/content/118/6/e2010217118.short"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">here</span></a><span style= "font-weight: 400;">. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He’s also written two books:</span> <a href= "https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-whole-body-microbiome-how/9781771622202-item.html?ikwid=brett+finlay&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=1#algoliaQueryId=06ee08c9b9e5ef41365d90a14f872db5"> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Whole-Body Microbiome</span></em></a><span style="font-weight: