Really? My microbiome might influence how smart I am? Well, consider this- those of us who have Fusicatenibacter in our gut generally score higher on verbal and mathematical testing. And if we had Oxalobacter, we score lower. But, how definitive is that?
Which is why Dr. Tie Lin Yang at the Xi’an Jiaotong University (China) checked to see if those two microbes above can provide more clues to our capability to manifest intelligence. (Mendelian Randomization analyses identify causal associations of human gut microbiome composition on intelligence) He and his team (Shi Yao,Ji-Zhou Han, Xin Wang, Jia-Hao Wang, Long Qian, Hao Wu, Jing Guo, Shan-Shan Dong, and YanGuo) analyzed the microbiome (and genome) collected microbiome data from 18340 folks. From that data pool, they isolated 10 genetic variants that were linked to Oxalobacter populations and 14 that were linked to Fusicatenibacter. (The team also studied the verbal and mathematical scores, along with the genomic data a of 269867 additional folks, to discern mor results.)
The results substantiated the hypothesis- but that still doesn’t fully justify the concept of the raising of our intelligence levels. As such, they examined some 150 more genetic variants that were also associated with elevated math and verbal skills. And, then they sought out correlations with Fusicatenibacter and Oxalobacterhoping that would provide the definite link.
What they did find is that folks who had Fusicatenibacter had larger brain volumes. OK- but what about the Oxolobacter issue. More importantly, it is unclear that if we were to augment the microbial levels in our gut that we would raise our intelligence level; rather it may be that out intelligence level affords more hospitable environmental conditions for the relevant bacteria.
More research is needed.
Very interesting post but I can even pronounce those worda let only what’s in my gut. I’m more excited to see you back in the challenge this month! Hope you are continuing to improve.
I’m sure that was just the bacterial names, Martha.
We are finding more and more about gut health, but intelligence? It is intriguing, but just think of all the supplement vendors that will jump on that, whether or not it is proven.