Submitted by MistWeaver80 t3_10infh2 in science
Could the reason for this be that shared household usually means shared economy, and shared diet? When I'm visiting my parents I eat like them. When I'm eating out with friends we tend to find a compromise.
That's been the previous theory. We tend to want to blame people for their health issues.
This is a new take that says perhaps the habits arise from the bacteria. We know bacteria are in a daily battle, putting out chemicals to kill each other. Those chemicals influence the human brain.
We are a colony animal.
I've seen nothing that indicates humans are slaves under their bacteria. Rather, the bacteria seem to influence our behaviour. But, like peer pressure, we can decide to go against their influence.
I don't think we should blame people for their health issues, but I also think we should be careful to absolve them from any and all responsibility. In the end, we're the captains of our ships.
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The commenter you replied to said bacteria "influences" the brain, and provided a source to that effect. I don't know where you got the idea that anybody - but you - said anything about completely controlling the brain.
The commenter implied otherwise by introducing “blame”. If my bacteria pressure me and I listen to them as opposed to exert my sentient willpower, then I am still to blame. Suggesting otherwise means I no longer have control, which is what the responder derived. I think maybe there was just a completely understandable miscommunication between these two and nobody is hurling insults. Gut microbiome absolutely influences our cravings, which is why stool transplants from healthy individuals can sometimes work to change the eating habits of someone obese.
It’s all super interesting!
>The commenter implied otherwise by introducing “blame”. If my bacteria pressure me and I listen to them as opposed to exert my sentient willpower, then I am still to blame. Suggesting otherwise means I no longer have control, which is what the responder derived.
Yes, that's how I saw it. I also see now that I misunderstood what the other person was trying to communicate.
Dude, I gave you one link because you said you had never seen anything on the topic. There are thousands. Go do some research if you're interested in the topic.
I'm not trying to confirm a bias with all this. I just like the science. Continue on with blaming people for their weight or bad health or whatever floats your boat.
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No one here ever said humans are slaves to bacteria. When did anyone say that? You're knocking down a strawman you set up yourself. All they said is that bacteria influences the brain.
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> we decide what we consume
As far as we know now... ;) Scientific determinations are ever changing as more data comes to light.
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bacteria aren't battling though?? most microbes produce signaling molecules dependent on their environment and may shift their chemical output dependant on other microbes present. but it's not all out war all the time. it's just a bunch of little organisms excreting chemicals because substrates were available. we do contain colonies though
Bacteria produce antibiotics as a defense mechanism against neighboring microbes to secure their patch, so it’s a kind of all out chemical war for supremacy because they evolve so quickly.
That would apply to neighbors too. If you live in a predominately rich white area, with lots of greenery, and open space, your around wildly different things than if you live in a multi family high rise in the middle of the city, with zero green space.
Indeed! That can happen even if your neighbors are not white, believe it or not.
Please show me these highly affluent but predominately non-white neighborhoods across America.
Red lining is part of our history, most nice neighborhoods have consistently stayed veering white & non-white neighborhoods were targeted for less than desirable stuff to go in (like things we know cause environmental pollution), it's not racist to point that out, it's acknowledging our history of systemic racism & the lasting impact of it.
Sugarland Texas, minority majority https://datausa.io/profile/geo/sugar-land-tx
Edit: also Missouri City, minority majority https://datausa.io/profile/geo/missouri-city-tx
Ah, the exceptions that prove the rule.
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Forgot about environmental flora. Absolutely!
Why are you eating environmental flora?
The fauna is just moves too fast.
This research specifically investigated person-to-person bacterial strain transmission. Diet is considered more of a factor in the relative composition of our microbiome, not the uniqueness of the bacterial strains that it's composed of. Very few strains in our microbiome can survive for long outside the human body.
Apparently, they tried to correct for food-to-gut transmission by disregarding strains that had any genome-based similarity to what's been found in commercially available food. How effective this correction was is TBD because there's so much unknown regarding microbiome transmission.
As of now, it seems person-to-person strain transmission is distance-based within shared environments. Still, food-to-gut strain transmission could be a factor. Lots more to discover.
Oh, that's fascinating!
I’m thinking water supply plays a large role in this.
If we admit that there's a proximity effect of unhealthy food sources, then how might we blame something else for our poor diet and lifestyle choices!?
Simply: just because one factor has some effect on our behavior doesn’t mean it’s solely to blame for our behavior.
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