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Re: microbiome

Posted by Tabitha on July 31, 2016, at 12:33:21

In reply to Re: Energy, posted by Hello321 on July 30, 2016, at 22:26:39

> https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150728110734.htm
>
> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4662178/
>
> http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/magazine/can-the-bacteria-in-your-gut-explain-your-mood.html?_r=0&referer=

Those articles illustrate that there were some findings in mouse and petri dish test that suggested a possible connection between the gut bacteria and depression. This led to a $1M research grant. OK, fine, but that's a long way from thinking that we'll have bacterial treatments for humans. Mouse and petri dish results often fail to transfer to humans.

The NIH article is a collection of speculations about a possible underlying mechanism for possible effects on various conditions. To me there's a strong implication that probiotics and fecal transplants are likely to work for depression and autism. As it turns out, there are practitioners and off-shore clinics offering these treatments. I think someone was trying to come up with a paper to cite in support of those treatments. Essentially it takes a grab-bag of research results, none of them human trials, many speculative, some not even clearly related to their conclusion, and jumps to a suggested clinical application. This is a very common pattern for making unproven treatments seem science-y.

Some of the statements sounded surprising, then I looked at the linked research, and it didn't seem to support what they were saying. For instance "In addition to their effects on monoamines, antidepressants exert their effects by suppressing inflammation via the potent immunoregulatory cytokine". Wow, I've never heard that antidepressants work by suppressing inflammation. So I look at the reference, and it's one study showing that prozac affects some chemical involved in inflammation. But that doesn't imply that it's the mechanism of action of prozac. (I thought the mechanism of action of SSRI's is still unknown, though it's hypothesized to be its effect on serotonin reuptake.) Also, since "inflammation" is such a buzz-word in alternative medicine, I think they're being intentionally misleading to draw in people who already think "inflammation" is a big issue in all kinds of conditions.

Then somehow there was a jump to the idea that autism can also be caused by the microbiome, since some people already believe that restrictive diets help autism. It's backwards reasoning.

Finally, the third one talks to one of the original researchers. He himself tells us it's way premature to be recommending probiotics and fecal transplants based on this work.

In short it looks like 90% hype and 10% mouse research at this point. I hope something comes of it, but it makes me angry to see preliminary research and speculation used by people selling un-proven treatments to desperate people.

 

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Psycho-Babble Medication | Framed

poster:Tabitha thread:1090994
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20160713/msgs/1091022.html