
Why Are Your Gut Microbes Different from Mine? - tokenadult
http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/04/why-are-your-gut-microbes-different-from-mine/480207/?single_page=true
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tokenadult
From the article: "The microbiome field is negotiating the same cycle of hype,
backlash, and introspection [other preliminary medical findings have
experienced]. Thousands of studies have linked the microbiome to almost every
condition you can imagine, but many of these correlations are likely to be
illusory. 'A lot of people have been annoyed by the hype surrounding our area,
and I think they were probably right,' says Raes. 'It’s time that, from within
the field, we look critically at what we’re doing ourselves. We tried to do
that with our paper. Yes, we’ve had the hype. Now, it’s time for the
consolidation.'"

Here on Hacker News, I have seen repeated articles become greeted by comments
that assume we already know all about how to regulate what microbes are in our
guts and how that influences health. In fact, we have no idea about such
things and don't have nearly enough data yet to make any definite statements
about how gut microbes really to human health, or even if they influence human
health at all for most people.

