Human microbiome studies really are oversold, new study suggests #UCLA #Microbiomania

Blargh. I saw this headline and I was suckered in. I thought there might actually be something novel behind it::Human emotions really are affected by gut bacteria, new study suggests - ScienceAlert But no - despite the headline, this is just about a paper that showed correlation between microbiome community patterns and various behavioral traits. Not a shred of cause vs effect tested. And yet despite that this is just a correlative study, the article just completely overstates the implications"But it's clear that there's something going on between the organisms in our gut and the thoughts and feelings we experience, and the sooner we delve into this, the sooner we'll comprehend just how emotionally powerful our 'second brain' really is."No no no no no and no. They do not show ANY connection between our thoughts and our microbiome. They just report a correlation. It could be that people with different thought patterns eat differently. Or people with different thought patterns exercise differently. Or $(#($(#@@ just abo9ut anything. Alas, many other stories about this work also make false inferences. See the Huffington Post for example: Your Gut Bacteria Really Do Affect Your Emotions "Anew study looked at how ‘microbiota’ bacteria in the human gut influences our emotional responses, as the evidence suggests there is a direct correlation between the two." Again, no no no no and no. They do not study how microbiota ...
Source: The Tree of Life - Category: Microbiology Authors: Source Type: blogs