Modern city dwellers have lost about half their gut microbes • Hacker News Board

Re: Modern city dwellers have lost about half their gut microbes

#21

Post by olliej » Thu, Jun 30, 2022, 9:31 PM UTC

Sunspark wrote: post #14

Once a gene has started expressing, it's pretty hard to flip the switch back to the off position. Losing the microbes is a big problem. It's just going to get worse. People seem to have this fetish for anti-bacterial everything.. soaps, coatings, etc. They take anti-biotics even for viral issues then they wonder why they start developing a new health problem they didn't have before, like a mood disorder or an autoimm…

What did the lost microbes do? If they helped digest things that aren't part of our diet then the there would be no selective pressure maintaining them, so they could be easily dropped, independent of the issues of vast over-application of antibiotics, etc.

Over application of antibiotics and anti-bacterial stuff is clearly causing problems, but that's not the only thing that is happening that impacts something as complex as the gut. Just as with genes, the microbiome is under constant selective pressure from evolution, and we will - over time - gain new microbes as we lose ones that aren't beneficial.

Re: Modern city dwellers have lost about half their gut microbes

#22

Post by jascii » Thu, Jun 30, 2022, 9:32 PM UTC

runjake wrote: post #16

jascii wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious why that comparison is more interesting to you? I can see great value in having both data points when trying to formulate a hypothesis about what causes the decline in gut-microbes in us city folks, but I find it hard to think of a use-case for solely a urban/rural comparison without other context. (Update: I was thinking about this from a scientific perspective, ignoring the idea that people might be int…

Because a bunch of us don't live in the city or urban environments and we're curious.

So the interest stems from a curiosity about your own gut-microbes? That seems fair enough, I may have been overthinking this...

Re: Modern city dwellers have lost about half their gut microbes

#23

Post by jonny_eh » Thu, Jun 30, 2022, 9:33 PM UTC

lbeltrame wrote: post #4

About ten years ago my former PI (second author in the below paper) did quite a job on this in Burkina Faso, analyzing the composition of the gut in children living outside cities, in cities, and a comparison with European children. Obligatory disclaimer: I was working in his laboratory at the time, but I wasn't involved in that research. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1005963107

What's a "former PI"?

Re: Modern city dwellers have lost about half their gut microbes

#24

Post by monocasa » Thu, Jun 30, 2022, 9:33 PM UTC

bejelentkezni wrote: post #19

epgui wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not impossible, and it might even be plausible... But it's a really, really difficult question. People outside of science: don't make the mistake of thinking that scientists haven't thought about this before! haha

What is that supposed to mean?

That it's certainly a valid thought with the information we have, and is being thought about, but requires further investigation to make an affirmative statement.

Re: Modern city dwellers have lost about half their gut microbes

#25

Post by sieabahlpark » Thu, Jun 30, 2022, 9:34 PM UTC

jonny_eh wrote: post #23

lbeltrame wrote: post #4

About ten years ago my former PI (second author in the below paper) did quite a job on this in Burkina Faso, analyzing the composition of the gut in children living outside cities, in cities, and a comparison with European children. Obligatory disclaimer: I was working in his laboratory at the time, but I wasn't involved in that research. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1005963107

What's a "former PI"?

No post body was provided.

Re: Modern city dwellers have lost about half their gut microbes

#26

Post by chronometry888 » Thu, Jun 30, 2022, 9:34 PM UTC

jonny_eh wrote: post #23

lbeltrame wrote: post #4

About ten years ago my former PI (second author in the below paper) did quite a job on this in Burkina Faso, analyzing the composition of the gut in children living outside cities, in cities, and a comparison with European children. Obligatory disclaimer: I was working in his laboratory at the time, but I wasn't involved in that research. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1005963107

What's a "former PI"?

The private investigator with whom you have severed ties.

Re: Modern city dwellers have lost about half their gut microbes

#27

Post by boomchinolo78 » Thu, Jun 30, 2022, 9:35 PM UTC

It's the iron fortified flour and then the people are like OMG I have celiac and what not. There's a reason breast milk and milk in general contains lactoferrin; guess what, they also remove it from most milk that is in supermarkets.

Re: Modern city dwellers have lost about half their gut microbes

#28

Post by setgree » Thu, Jun 30, 2022, 9:35 PM UTC

lbeltrame wrote: post #4

About ten years ago my former PI (second author in the below paper) did quite a job on this in Burkina Faso, analyzing the composition of the gut in children living outside cities, in cities, and a comparison with European children. Obligatory disclaimer: I was working in his laboratory at the time, but I wasn't involved in that research. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1005963107

Wow is the mobile UX of PNAS bad — the cookie pop-up has no X button and if you click ‘continue’ — which I thought meant continue to the article — it directs you to the terms of service. If you press back, you see the same pop-up again.

Looks like interesting research though!

Re: Modern city dwellers have lost about half their gut microbes

#29

Post by vanattab » Thu, Jun 30, 2022, 9:35 PM UTC

jonny_eh wrote: post #23

lbeltrame wrote: post #4

About ten years ago my former PI (second author in the below paper) did quite a job on this in Burkina Faso, analyzing the composition of the gut in children living outside cities, in cities, and a comparison with European children. Obligatory disclaimer: I was working in his laboratory at the time, but I wasn't involved in that research. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1005963107

What's a "former PI"?

principal investigator

Re: Modern city dwellers have lost about half their gut microbes

#30

Post by trollied » Thu, Jun 30, 2022, 9:35 PM UTC

jonny_eh wrote: post #23

lbeltrame wrote: post #4

About ten years ago my former PI (second author in the below paper) did quite a job on this in Burkina Faso, analyzing the composition of the gut in children living outside cities, in cities, and a comparison with European children. Obligatory disclaimer: I was working in his laboratory at the time, but I wasn't involved in that research. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1005963107

What's a "former PI"?

“The person(s) in charge of a clinical trial or a scientific research grant. The PI prepares and carries out the clinical trial protocol (plan for the study) or research paid for by the grant. The PI also analyzes the data and reports the results of the trial or grant research. Also called principal investigator.”