Bernat Olle points to a “news” story in Medpage Today: Exercise Boosts Gut Microbiome Diversity by Kristina Fiore. Well, so of course I started digging around. And, not surprisingly, the study that this is based on shows absolutely no causal connection between exercise and the gut microbiome. The study is in the journal “Gut”: Exercise and associated dietary extremes impact on gut microbial diversity.
The key part of their abstract is: The results provide evidence for a beneficial impact of exercise on gut microbiota diversity.
For which they have no support. They do not in any way show that exercise has ANY affect on the microbiota. They show it is correlated to the microbiota.
Here is a microbiome theory I will leave you with. I hypothesize that these papers, and all the other ones that oversell the microbiome, themselves cause major changes in the microbiome of many people. Evidence for this? Well, none yet. But I have a correlation. The correlation is, after reading these papers, I feel sick to my stomach. That must be proof right?
Read the full, original story: The Tree of Life
