## Metadata - Author: [[Tim Spector]] - Full Title: Food for Life - Category: #books ## Highlights - The individual gut microbes in the microbiome community are best thought of as little chemical factories or pharmacies. The cells in our gut lining can produce only about twenty chemical enzymes to digest our food, while, with collectively 200 times more genes than we have, our microbes produce thousands of chemicals that our own cells cannot. ([Location 588](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0B41SVPN9&location=588)) - When microbes break down food with their arsenal of chemicals and in turn produce other chemicals, it is known as fermentation. ([Location 592](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0B41SVPN9&location=592)) - The latest research tells us to eat a rich variety of plant foods each week (and our work suggests ideally thirty different plants), ([Location 593](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0B41SVPN9&location=593)) - In general, plants have more polyphenols if they have grown in a stressful rather than a cushy environment. Plants use these chemicals as defence mechanisms for two reasons. The first is to prevent their fruit being eaten by mammals before their seeds are fertile. The other is to defend themselves against the local environment, such as excess wind or sunshine, as well as fending off microbes and insects. ([Location 608](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0B41SVPN9&location=608)) - By using our 400 smell receptors, capturing all the thousands of different floating natural chemicals, we can distinguish around a trillion combinations of odours. ([Location 704](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0B41SVPN9&location=704)) - decide if you are going to spit or swallow, and it has evolved as a sophisticated defence mechanism against poisons. Your tongue may be extra sensitive to slimy or unusual textures to stop you swallowing a worm or insect that might be in the apple. ([Location 716](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0B41SVPN9&location=716))