The GAPS books describe several ways a family can pass a health starting point to children: human genes, a microbial ecosystem and learned everyday habits. Campbell-McBride’s 2020 discussion brings human and microbial genetic material into one framework, using the terms holobiome and hologenome.[1][2]
That can sound abstract until you separate the parts. A child can inherit DNA, encounter microbes through pregnancy, birth and feeding, and later learn the family’s food and household routines. Those are connected influences, but they are not the same process.
What the Two Terms Mean in the Book
In Gut and Physiology Syndrome, Campbell-McBride describes the human body and its microbes as an ecosystem with mixed genetics. She uses holobiome for that human-and-microbial community and hologenome for its combined genetic material. She also discusses exchange of genetic material between microbes and, in the research account she presents, between microbes and human cells.[2]
These terms widen the book’s view of biological inheritance. They do not make a microbial community identical to a person’s human DNA. Keeping both in the picture is the point of the combined framework.
Pregnancy and Birth in the Newer Account
The 2020 book describes the parental holobiome and hologenome as passing to babies during pregnancy and birth. In its separate infant-flora discussion, it begins during pregnancy with uterine and placental microbes. It then describes a large birth-canal transfer, followed by continuing contributions from breast milk and the later introduction of food.[2]
Both parents appear in that account. Campbell-McBride describes microbial sharing between the father and mother as part of the flora present at vaginal birth. The mother’s body, birth canal and breast milk have distinct roles without making the father irrelevant.[2]
The full pregnancy-to-weaning sequence is already explained in the baby-microbiome guide. That is where to continue for the stages of transfer, rather than treating “inherited flora” as one event with no later development.
How the Earlier Family Example Fits
The earlier genetics chapter illustrates its argument with a grandmother with arthritis and abnormal gut flora, a daughter with asthma, eczema and digestive problems, and an autistic child in the next generation. Campbell-McBride uses it to argue that family resemblance in health need not be explained by a single shared causal gene.[1]
It is the author’s explanatory family scenario. It is not our family’s history, and it does not establish the microbial makeup of another family. The generations guide separates this example from the different clinical illustration earlier in the book and the postwar account in the 2020 book.
Learned Habits Are Another Form of Inheritance
The genetics chapter also describes what children learn by living in a family: foods, cooking, preferences, values and household practices. Its example combines sugar-heavy foods and refined baked goods with frequent use of chemical cleaners, air fresheners and personal-care products. The author argues that repeated practices can create repeated pressures on gut flora and health.[1]
This part is often the easiest to recognize. A familiar way of shopping or preparing meals can continue without anyone making a deliberate decision to pass it down. It is learned through repetition, rather than being a DNA sequence.
Four Ideas to Keep Separate
| Idea | What You Are Describing |
|---|---|
| Human genes | Inherited genetic material. The earlier book distinguishes specific genetic disorders from complex predispositions. |
| Gene expression | How genetic instructions are used, discussed alongside nutrition in the earlier genetics chapter. |
| Microbial inheritance | The microbial ecosystem discussed in the newer pregnancy, birth and feeding sequence. |
| Learned routines | Food and household practices children learn through family life. |
Using the right term helps you ask a better question. “My parent had this diagnosis,” “we ate similar foods” and “we know this test result” are different kinds of information. None should quietly stand in for the other two.
Choose One Useful Place to Begin
Our family began GAPS in July 2024. With six children, I want explanations that lead to something I can use. Here, that means separating the family history from the meals, routines and questions in front of me now.
If you are preparing for a baby, start with pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding preparation. If you are already managing family life on GAPS, the whole-family guide keeps the focus on practical help. The parent-guilt article is there when looking back begins to feel like blame.
My Care Team Log is listed in the WFLI Shop. Keep confirmed family information and the questions it raises together in a notebook. Mark what you know and leave the unknowns open.
References
- Campbell-McBride N. Gut and Psychology Syndrome, expanded second German edition (2015), “Die Erbanlagen,” including genetic predisposition, twin and migration examples, gene expression, microbial inheritance and learned behavior.
- Campbell-McBride N. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), “Pleomorphism,” holobiome and hologenome discussion; “Where does the gut flora come from?”
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