Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Gut microbe linked to depression in large health study

science.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 297 posts

Re: Gut microbe linked to depression in large health study

#131

Post by sdze »

jay_kyburz wrote: post #125
sdze wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also why would GMO be bad? The criticism comes mostly from people that also believe in osteopathic / homeopathic medicine in my social circle. I find it a terrific chance for humanity to engineer plants in such a way that they are more robust against disease and bad weather (with CRISPR/CAS and such methods).

I'm not into osteopathy or homeopathy but my concerned about GMO are because I don't trust that the scientist really know what they are doing, or can fully understand the impact any changes they might make, not only on humans, but on the environment at large. Nor do I trust our government to be able to police and regulate the industry. Nor do I trust big farma to put health before profits.

I think humans always genetically "engineered" plants by selection process. Our current cultivated plants are the result of thousands of years of breeding.

Who knows what accidental genetic damage from breeding will cause problems in humans?

Re: Gut microbe linked to depression in large health study

#134

Post by ipaddr »

freshpots wrote: post #127
rjsw wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone else with immune system reactions to food, it doesn't seem a great idea to modify food even more than we have done already.

That's not a good argument at all. What 'modification' do you think is a risk and how would it cause the concerns your worried about?

To put the question back what benefit does it provide aside from cost?

Re: Gut microbe linked to depression in large health study

#135

Post by Dma54rhs »

sdze wrote: post #114
jwuphysics wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry to hear about your experiences and it sounds like you learned a lot from firsthand knowledge. But, respectfully asking, what does inflammatory foods or poor eating habits have to do with GMO foods?

Also why would GMO be bad? The criticism comes mostly from people that also believe in osteopathic / homeopathic medicine in my social circle. I find it a terrific chance for humanity to engineer plants in such a way that they are more robust against disease and bad weather (with CRISPR/CAS and such methods).

Anti - GMO crowd is definetly very similar to anti vaxxers and other science deniers spreading dangerous propaganda while eating oranges and bananas.

Re: Gut microbe linked to depression in large health study

#137

Post by smt88 »

thih9 wrote: post #128
belltaco wrote: post #120

What if depression was causing the gut microbe changes? Like it was recently found with autism and gut changes. https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/body-and-mind/autism-gut-m...

Note that the original article mentions: > "researchers recently reported in Frontiers in Psychiatry that fecal transplants improved symptoms in two depressed patients"

That doesn't disprove that depression caused the microbial imbalance in the first place.

It's very reasonable to think that a lot of these systems are bidirectional, and for any individual, you may not know which part of the body was dysfunctional first.

Re: Gut microbe linked to depression in large health study

#138

Post by phantom_oracle »

Perhaps Westerners view all non-western science as pseudoscience or made up, but it is a well-known fact in many Eastern cultures (and their medicinal practices) that the stomach is a primary source of disease (and not just depression, but all kinds) when abused through bad eating habits.

Then the wheel is re-invented with intermittent fasting, a diet with less processed foods, more veg/fruit, less meat, etc.

Whenever I see articles about health on HN, I no longer take them too seriously because the reductionist approach to medicine is why people get mistreated for symptoms instead of the disease.

Even the ancient Greeks (the so-called birthplace of "western knowledge") took a more holistic approach than what the sketchy for-profit medical/pharmaceutical cabal does.

But of course, we need to take it seriously because "the scientists say so", even though their own research system is so badly broken that a for-profit cabal runs the publishing arm of research.

Strange times we live in.

Re: Gut microbe linked to depression in large health study

#139

Post by PeterisP »

zackmorris wrote: post #123
jwuphysics wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry to hear about your experiences and it sounds like you learned a lot from firsthand knowledge. But, respectfully asking, what does inflammatory foods or poor eating habits have to do with GMO foods?

Two main things: 1. Genetically modified (GMO) foods can cause non-food compounds to get synthesized in the food that our bodies have never seen before, which can trigger autoimmune issues. I consider this the lower risk. 2. GMO foods are designed specifically to allow more use of pesticides and herbicides. These get incorporated into the food and can stay around after washing, especially in processed food. Pesticide…

My impression is quite the opposite - GMO insect-resistant plants enable using much less pesticides (the savings from reduced frequency and quantity of pesticides being the economic reason for choosing such crops) than non-modified equivalents.

Re: Gut microbe linked to depression in large health study

#140

Post by sdze »

Dma54rhs wrote: post #135
sdze wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also why would GMO be bad? The criticism comes mostly from people that also believe in osteopathic / homeopathic medicine in my social circle. I find it a terrific chance for humanity to engineer plants in such a way that they are more robust against disease and bad weather (with CRISPR/CAS and such methods).

Anti - GMO crowd is definetly very similar to anti vaxxers and other science deniers spreading dangerous propaganda while eating oranges and bananas.

Don't forget the 5G radiation...
Post reply on HN