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About two years ago, I began to understand the importance of a single species of bacteria: bifidobacteria.
I already knew it lived in a cup of Lavva, alongside other beneficial microbes. What I did not yet understand was how essential this one organism is to human health, and in many ways, to our future as a species.
Cancer no longer defines me, but it permanently changed how I look at food.
During that time, I learned something that stopped me cold. Nearly nine out of ten newborns in the United States are now missing bifidobacteria at birth. I learned this from a biochemist who has spent his career studying newborn immune systems and how this bacteria lays down the immune blueprint that has guided human evolution since the beginning of time. In many parts of the world, this blueprint is still intact. In the United States, it is not.
And then I learned something extraordinary.
When a newborn who carries this bacteria in abundance is placed among other infants who are missing it, the bacteria spreads. In a remarkably short time, all of the babies acquire it. I do not think I have ever heard anything more hopeful.
As someone who survived cancer and built Lavva while in treatment, this knowledge changed everything for me. We do not have isolated immune systems. We have a collective one. And restoring it begins at the microbial level.
This single microbe plays a breathtaking role in metabolism, immune resilience, and long-term health. There are evidence-based ways to restore this ancient relationship, even in adulthood. We often talk about feeding good bacteria, but if they are no longer there, there is nothing to feed. This is where food matters. Not as a trend or a rule, but as biology.
The idea that health begins in the gut is not new. In the 16th century, Paracelsus understood that the digestive system was central to human health. Today, longevity medicine confirms what traditional cultures have always practiced.
Resistant starch is a carbohydrate shaped by evolution to nourish bifidobacteria from infancy through adulthood. This relationship supports blood sugar balance, appetite regulation, immune strength, and metabolic stability over a lifetime.
Our ancestors did not need pharmaceutical interventions to regulate hunger or metabolism. They ate culturally relevant foods, close to their natural state. When we feed our bacteria, we feed ourselves.
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