Today in misleading, dangerous, overselling of the microbiome - UNC on babies and cognitive development

Uggh. Was pointed to this on Twitter:In baby's dirty diapers, the clues to baby's brain development | EurekAlert! Science News@phylogenomicshttps://t.co/whMlHNlk6d— Dylan Mackay (@DylanMacKayPhD)July 22, 2017And I read the PR and made a quick Twitter response but decided to fill that in here a bit.Some ridiculous overselling of the#microbiome in that press release#microbiomaniapic.twitter.com/zGElsVCOoV— Jonathan Eisen (@phylogenomics)July 22, 2017Basically the study being discussed found a correlation between the microbiome in babies poop and their cognitive development. There are 100s of possible causes for such a correlation. But the press release misleading went on about how their work suggests they maybe able to somehow intervene to guide development by manipulating the microbiome. Ridiculous.Here are some problematic quotes"In baby's dirty diapers, the clues to baby's brain development"Not really any clues providing in this work towards brain development. They have an interesting observation. It is unclear if it provides any insight into brain development.Findings from the UNC School of Medicine shed light on the surprising role of bacteria in how our brains develop during the first years of lifeNo no no no no and no. They do not show ANY role of bacteria in how brains develop.Our work suggests that an 'optimal' microbiome for cognitive and psychiatric outcomes may be different than an 'optimal' microbiome for other outcomes."Oh #FFS. They do not show in any way wha...
Source: The Tree of Life - Category: Microbiology Authors: Source Type: blogs