Featuring a FOM Keynote: David Nelson on the Future of Health and the Microbiome
Magician, mathematician, computer scientist, minister, personal trainer, graphic designer, health food store owner. David Nelson has worn a lot of hats, and they all led him to planetary health.
In this episode of the Industry Transparency Podcast, ITC’s Steve Imgrund sits down with David Nelson, co-founder of the Earthrise Community with the Planetary Health Alliance and faculty at the Nova Institute for Health. Expect to learn about his journey becoming a generalists journey and how this allows him to see connections that specialists can miss, and why that matters for the natural products industry. David explains how his varied background led him to planetary health and its three connected domains of person, place and planet. He describes the microbiome as a math problem of countless species and genes interacting, the reciprocal relationship between the gut barrier, as a ‘house’, and the microbes as its ‘residents’, and why that’s a useful conceptual framework. In this episode:
- Why David Epstein’s book Range changed how he saw himself as a generalist
- What planetary health means, and the move from treating disease to supporting people’s wellbeing
- How a background in combinatorial math shaped how he approaches the microbiome
- What the natural products industry gets right and wrong about the microbiome, and what traditional herbal combinations can teach us
- What’s new on auto-brewery syndrome, other gut metabolites that may affect behavior, and the UN-backed judicial wellness initiative
- His book picks and the two daily habits he won’t give up
David’s talk at the 2025 Future of the Microbiome summit was one of the event’s most talked-about sessions, and he returns for the 2026 Winter Summit, November 17–19. Register at futureofmicrobiome.com.
Follow David’s essays and field notes at davidhplanet.com (launching soon).
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