jimrandomh comments on Normal gut microbiota modulates brain development and behavior (at least in mice) - Less Wrong

2 Post author: playtherapist 02 February 2011 03:25PM

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Comment author: jimrandomh 03 February 2011 01:06:28AM 0 points [-]

Hang on a second - how are they controlling for effective calorie intake? Intestinal bacteria steal calories, and I would expect that to affect activity level, especially in mice.

The inferential distance between this study and linking antibiotics to ADHD in humans is huge. It's the wrong species; a few antibiotics aren't at all like being raised in sealed plastic and fed autoclaved food (and as far as I know the few people that do live in hermetically sealed environments don't develop ADHD more often than normal); and for that matter, higher activity level isn't the same thing as ADHD. Neither the original study nor the Science Daily article mention antibiotics or ADHD. Sorry mom, there isn't anything here to even raise it as a possibility, let alone meet the elevated standard of evidence required for making reliable conclusions about human behavior.

Comment author: playtherapist 03 February 2011 01:56:16AM 0 points [-]

I didn't mention antibiotics, I said antibacterial products- I was referring to cleaners that kill all the bacteria on surfaces, thus altering what people are exposed to. Antibiotics do, also, alter the gut bacteria.

Yes, I am saying there may be links that the articles didn't mention. It's not just the higher activity level, but the increase in risky behavior.

Those are good points about effective calorie intake.

I would like to know how living in hermetically sealed environments have effected childrens' brain development. I've never seen anything published about that.