4 ms·

My personal, completely unsubstantiated take is: your diet allows certain bacteria to thrive (or not). It’s less about trying to avoid the bad ones and more abo

by cmckn 5y ago

My personal, completely unsubstantiated take is: your diet allows certain bacteria to thrive (or not). It’s less about trying to avoid the bad ones and more about trying to nurture the good ones. One incredible thing you can do for your gut is eat more fiber; which the vast majority of Americans don’t. Try psyllium husk powder (the stuff in Metamucil). Eat less refined sugar and saturated fat; eat more raw and fermented vegetables. Probiotics are kind of a scam, and are usually really expensive. Like most things with health, you have to consistently do the not-so-fun things to get good results, you can’t just take a pill and move on.

taeric 5y ago
That is as may be, however, this study shows that removing that bacteria helps with mood disorder. And, there is no evidence that diet gives you this bacteria. Nor that it can help remove this one, either. That is, discussion of diet is a bit of a non sequitur. Not wrong, but also not necessarily relevant.
- cmckn 5y ago
  The paper is titled “ Combined effects of host genetics *and diet* on human gut microbiota and incident disease…” (emphasis mine). Dairy (and the way some people process it, because of genetics) was shown to influence levels of certain bacteria. The study also does not show that removing Morganella resolved depression; the study did not attempt to remove it, and a researcher is quoted as saying it’s not clear how one would do so (last line of the article): > But it’s less clear how Morganella could be eliminated from the gut to relieve symptoms. “That’s a bit more challenging.”
  - taeric 5y ago
    Ah, fair. I was going with what I saw as an implication that removing it would help. My apologies. Clearly, I had not made it through the article to the underlying studies. My reading was that they were looking for lactose related bacteria, but landed on this other one. And that they did not find a way to control it's presence.
asdfman123 5y ago
The rule of thumb in nutrition is diet is way more effective than supplements. There's a place for supplements, some of them may be helpful or not, but having a good diet that naturally includes those things is always better.

by cmckn 5y ago

taeric 5y ago

That is as may be, however, this study shows that removing that bacteria helps with mood disorder. And, there is no evidence that diet gives you this bacteria. Nor that it can help remove this one, either. That is, discussion of diet is a bit of a non sequitur. Not wrong, but also not necessarily relevant.

cmckn 5y ago
The paper is titled “ Combined effects of host genetics *and diet* on human gut microbiota and incident disease…” (emphasis mine). Dairy (and the way some people process it, because of genetics) was shown to influence levels of certain bacteria. The study also does not show that removing Morganella resolved depression; the study did not attempt to remove it, and a researcher is quoted as saying it’s not clear how one would do so (last line of the article): > But it’s less clear how Morganella could be eliminated from the gut to relieve symptoms. “That’s a bit more challenging.”
- taeric 5y ago
  Ah, fair. I was going with what I saw as an implication that removing it would help. My apologies. Clearly, I had not made it through the article to the underlying studies. My reading was that they were looking for lactose related bacteria, but landed on this other one. And that they did not find a way to control it's presence.

asdfman123 5y ago

The rule of thumb in nutrition is diet is way more effective than supplements. There's a place for supplements, some of them may be helpful or not, but having a good diet that naturally includes those things is always better.