Microbiome lost: Reclaiming the precision functions eroded by modern living

The Western diet is killing us, environmental contaminants are contributing to the disease burden, and our separation from the natural world has reduced our contact with the beneficial bacteria that once helped protect us. These themes, among others, emerged at this year’s Probiota Americas conference in Vancouver, as academia and industry continued to fine tune the role biotics might play in countering the modern insults that have contributed to a global metabolic and mental health crisis fed by chronic inflammation.