# Mortality of Antarctic babies due to gut microflora

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortality-of-antarctic-babies-due-to-gut-microflora/740125>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 10, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortality-of-antarctic-babies-due-to-gut-microflora/740125 "2015-12-10T22:26:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortality-of-antarctic-babies-due-to-gut-microflora/740125/21 "2017-01-24T04:00:33Z")

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> [@DSeid](#):
>
> It is a bit disappointing that someone whose bio is fairly decent wrote something that demonstrated so little knowledge of the subject she wrote a book about.

Along that line (I think), I blanch at hearing the gut called an organ. I would say it’s a grouping of organs.

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**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortality-of-antarctic-babies-due-to-gut-microflora/740125/22 "2017-01-24T09:06:10Z")

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> [@Cyrux](#):
>
> I have no idea about the veracity of the claim itself and I concur with the general thought in this discussion however there does exist a [news report](http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-26161823.html)about this claim. It’s from the German newspaper called \*Der Speigel \* and seeing the author of the book is German I imagine this is where she got her information from. I asked one of my German friends to translate the relevant passage:

It’s inaccurate to call that a news report. It’s a factoid in a long article on Antarctica, and so definitely not a primary source.

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**Author:** ![eporter118](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7993a0/32.png) [@eporter118](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eporter118)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortality-of-antarctic-babies-due-to-gut-microflora/740125/23 "2022-09-05T03:19:02Z")

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I agree with everyone here that this claim is bogus, but wanted to point out that in the German edition of this book she says North Pole (Nordpol) not South Pole. I’m assuming the German edition was the original as she was a German author and the publisher in Berlin. Not sure how that could have been so poorly translated.

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**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mortality-of-antarctic-babies-due-to-gut-microflora/740125/24 "2022-09-05T03:34:30Z")

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@eporter118 welcome to The Dope! Nice first post.

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