Zach Bush Md : On restoring our ecological and human regenerative capacities to heal (part 2)
Zach Bush MD (@zachbushmd) is a renowned, multi-disciplinary physician of internal medicine, endocrinology, and hospice care, and an internationally recognized educator on the microbiome as it relates to human health.
In this part 2 of our conversation (listen to part 1 in episode 225 here), Dr. Bush sheds light on how we can connect the dots between how we approach earth stewardship and how we approach healthcare; why taking probiotic supplements, while well-intentioned, may not actually take us closer to supporting an optimal, biodiverse microbiome; and more.
To start, get a glimpse below into the conversation between Dr. Bush and Green Dreamer Podcast's host, Kamea Chayne.
Musical feature: Trust The Sun by Mission to Earth by NYADO
“We need to reteach or teach the new science of nutrition in the context of our exploding knowledge of the microbiome to the whole gamut of the healthcare field.”
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This is a conversation on Green Dreamer with Kamea Chayne, a podcast and multimedia journal illuminating our paths towards ecological balance, intersectional sustainability, and true abundance and wellness for all. This preview has been edited for clarity. Subscribe to Green Dreamer Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or any podcast app to stay informed and updated on our latest episodes.
On the increasing costs of chronic disease management:
"Our 3.5 trillion dollar a year spending in chronic disease management is five times what we spend on our entire global military and homeland security budgets. So chronic disease management is our most expensive bottom line by 5 times now, and it's going to accelerate at a faster and faster rate if we continue our current course."
On better educating the public and healthcare practitioners:
"We have to change the education of the consumer and help empower the consumer to demand a different healthcare system. We also need to change the education of practitioners—whether we're talking about physicians, nutritionists, dietitians. Practitioners are often very poorly trained with old science and are not taught about the microbiome in their education, typically.
So we have to make some huge strides very quickly, and we need to reteach or teach the new science of nutrition in the context of our exploding knowledge of the microbiome to the whole gamut of the healthcare field."
On the limitations of probiotic supplements:
"Good health, like soil health, is all about microbial diversity. You want 30,000 species of bacteria and 5 million species of fungi. If you're taking a probiotic, you're ingesting three or five species of the same bacteria, every day, and billions of copies.
When you're consuming a monoculture like that, you're going to end up with a few species instead of your massive biodiversity that would give you health.
So in a sad way, our probiotic industry has taken our consumer marketplace much further away from what we would call 'gut health' at this stage of our understanding of the microbiome."
Final words of wisdom:
“There's a child in every single one of you. Honor the childlike wisdom and purpose that you have within yourself.
Keep diving into your sense of purpose and the clarity of your trajectory and how you can be a part of not just a part of a different food system, but a different consumer awareness, a different society if you will, where we start to recognize the value of human life and our diversity just as we start to appreciate the diversity of the microbiome.
You are as unique as your microbiome is and we have an opportunity to learn so much from each of you and your reinvention of yourself.
