6 ms·

In a few years we might look back at this period and think: oh, it was at the time when we thought gut bacteria was the solution to every health problem known t

In a few years we might look back at this period and think: oh, it was at the time when we thought gut bacteria was the solution to every health problem known to mankind. Remember when it was vitamin D?

sametmax 8y ago
It's better than to ignore it's part of a healthy body.
- 8u23u0893290u 8y ago
  But important to remember we're composites of organs, tissues, and cell types/structures.
mobilefriendly 8y ago
Vitamin D is still going strong, recent studies about the benefits to every thing from fetal babies to lower belly fat to reducing mental illness.
maxxxxx 8y ago
Maybe one day we'll realize that there is no single factor for good health. Maybe it's Vitamin D AND gut bacteria AND lot of other factors that are even individually different?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
beenBoutIT 8y ago
The gut bacteria findings go against the previously held view that antibiotics were the solution to every health problem known to mankind.
- ImaCake 8y ago
  It turns out antibiotics are actually pretty awful - they wreak havoc on your microbiome, they modulate your immune system in weird ways, they cause some weird allergies. But they are still way better than the diseases they cure, and definitely better than death!
  - andrei_says_ 8y ago
    Except that they get prescribed a lot, almost as an insurance.
    - acchow 8y ago
      And in some countries, they give antibiotics for viral infections because patients just want them! Got the common cold? Here's some Amoxicillin!
      - janekm 8y ago
        Worse, in China they are sold OTC and are as popular as you suggest (aside from being the thing that is prescribed on nearly every doctors visit to a health center). Even though anti-viral medicines (for what little good those do...) are also available OTC...
  - neor 8y ago
    Yep, antibiotics are the lesser evil. The only thing I really don't agree with is how easily and how much it is used in our food production. Toxins move up the food chain, and with humans being pretty much the top of that chain we shouldn't be dumping medicine into livestock just to keep them from getting sick.
cJ0th 8y ago
We should already know better that there most likely is no "secret". That is, it's probably more than one special variable we have to look at. Somehow many scientists are having a hard time to let go of one dimensional thinking.
acchow 8y ago
In a few years, we might look back at this period and think: oh, it was at the time when we actually thought correlation studies had any value.
TangoTrotFox 8y ago
I think this is very different in that it's something we previously completely disregarded in health outcomes. We consume various things that we know wreak havoc on our gut biome including antibiotics and various residual herbicides, but it was felt that this was mostly harmless as the gut biome did not play a critical role in our physiological condition. Now it's seeming that it may indeed be quite a critical system in the human physiological condition and so it's more of an entirely new field of study than a miracle cure. I feel as though there is some degree of ostrich-syndrome when it comes to the deterioration of American physical and mental health. Something is causing this change, and most convenient explanations (lethargic lifestyles, internet, etc) do not really work since that would imply a comparable decline in other areas that have also seen such changes, yet the correlations there are spotty at best.
- Elrac 8y ago
  As far as I know, the US is the only prosperous country where life expectancies are going down. Makes one sit back and think, no? A lot of factors are probably involved as you say, but if I had to guess at the elephant-in-the-room dominant factor I'd say it's the US's model of what's euphemistically called "health care" and "health insurance." It's a complete no-brainer that people who can't afford medical treatment are dying earlier.
  - TangoTrotFox 8y ago
    Look at the reasons that people are dying. It's been blamed on things like the opioid crisis but the numbers in no way support such 'hypothesis', which don't even really qualify as such. Cardiovascular disease, heart failure, stroke, diabetic complications, etc are where the big increases are coming from. And nearly all the major causes of death that are increasing are strongly linked with obesity, which is skyrocketing out of control. This is what I was alluding to early when suggesting that this change is, in turn, blamed on lethargic lifestyles, the internet, etc yet such changes are also happening in other nations yet they are not experiencing such radical shifts in lack of healthfulness.
SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
When was vitamin D discredited?
dhimes 8y ago
That's also how chiropractics started.

sametmax 8y ago

It's better than to ignore it's part of a healthy body.

8u23u0893290u 8y ago
But important to remember we're composites of organs, tissues, and cell types/structures.

mobilefriendly 8y ago

Vitamin D is still going strong, recent studies about the benefits to every thing from fetal babies to lower belly fat to reducing mental illness.

maxxxxx 8y ago

Maybe one day we'll realize that there is no single factor for good health. Maybe it's Vitamin D AND gut bacteria AND lot of other factors that are even individually different?

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

beenBoutIT 8y ago

The gut bacteria findings go against the previously held view that antibiotics were the solution to every health problem known to mankind.

ImaCake 8y ago
It turns out antibiotics are actually pretty awful - they wreak havoc on your microbiome, they modulate your immune system in weird ways, they cause some weird allergies. But they are still way better than the diseases they cure, and definitely better than death!
- andrei_says_ 8y ago
  Except that they get prescribed a lot, almost as an insurance.
  - acchow 8y ago
    And in some countries, they give antibiotics for viral infections because patients just want them! Got the common cold? Here's some Amoxicillin!
    - janekm 8y ago
      Worse, in China they are sold OTC and are as popular as you suggest (aside from being the thing that is prescribed on nearly every doctors visit to a health center). Even though anti-viral medicines (for what little good those do...) are also available OTC...
- neor 8y ago
  Yep, antibiotics are the lesser evil. The only thing I really don't agree with is how easily and how much it is used in our food production. Toxins move up the food chain, and with humans being pretty much the top of that chain we shouldn't be dumping medicine into livestock just to keep them from getting sick.

cJ0th 8y ago

We should already know better that there most likely is no "secret". That is, it's probably more than one special variable we have to look at. Somehow many scientists are having a hard time to let go of one dimensional thinking.

acchow 8y ago

In a few years, we might look back at this period and think: oh, it was at the time when we actually thought correlation studies had any value.

TangoTrotFox 8y ago

I think this is very different in that it's something we previously completely disregarded in health outcomes. We consume various things that we know wreak havoc on our gut biome including antibiotics and various residual herbicides, but it was felt that this was mostly harmless as the gut biome did not play a critical role in our physiological condition. Now it's seeming that it may indeed be quite a critical system in the human physiological condition and so it's more of an entirely new field of study than a miracle cure. I feel as though there is some degree of ostrich-syndrome when it comes to the deterioration of American physical and mental health. Something is causing this change, and most convenient explanations (lethargic lifestyles, internet, etc) do not really work since that would imply a comparable decline in other areas that have also seen such changes, yet the correlations there are spotty at best.

Elrac 8y ago
As far as I know, the US is the only prosperous country where life expectancies are going down. Makes one sit back and think, no? A lot of factors are probably involved as you say, but if I had to guess at the elephant-in-the-room dominant factor I'd say it's the US's model of what's euphemistically called "health care" and "health insurance." It's a complete no-brainer that people who can't afford medical treatment are dying earlier.
- TangoTrotFox 8y ago
  Look at the reasons that people are dying. It's been blamed on things like the opioid crisis but the numbers in no way support such 'hypothesis', which don't even really qualify as such. Cardiovascular disease, heart failure, stroke, diabetic complications, etc are where the big increases are coming from. And nearly all the major causes of death that are increasing are strongly linked with obesity, which is skyrocketing out of control. This is what I was alluding to early when suggesting that this change is, in turn, blamed on lethargic lifestyles, the internet, etc yet such changes are also happening in other nations yet they are not experiencing such radical shifts in lack of healthfulness.

SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago

When was vitamin D discredited?

dhimes 8y ago

That's also how chiropractics started.