Definition of "a lot"

Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.

2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3