Contextualising the microbiota-gut-brain axis in history and culture.

Jørgen Valeur,Manon Mathias,Alison M. Moore

doi:10.1080/16512235.2019.1546267

Abstract

Highlights

This special edition on humanistic approaches to the microbiota–gut–brain axis was inspired by two symposia organised by literary scholar Dr Manon Mathias at the University of Aberdeen in 2017 and at the University of Glasgow in 2018, both involving the participation of medical historian Dr Alison M
One reason it should interest all medical researchers and clinicians to read the articles in a special edition such as this, is to consider what is truly novel in current scientific models and what may be inherited from past medical concepts
The history of faecal microbial transplant (FMT) is a case in point: though often claimed as a ‘new’ therapy [2], it has existed in the form of oral administration in European medical traditions since Ancient Greece, featured in several major works of medical description of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries [3], and has been used in Chinese medical traditions since the Don-jin dynasty (4th century CE) [4]

Summary

Introduction

This special edition on humanistic approaches to the microbiota–gut–brain axis was inspired by two symposia organised by literary scholar Dr Manon Mathias at the University of Aberdeen in 2017 and at the University of Glasgow in 2018, both involving the participation of medical historian Dr Alison M. The authors, while acknowledging the importance of microbiota–gut–brain axis research for understanding brain function and behaviour, show that there are frequent weaknesses in study design and conceptual modelling in the field, as well as in public communication, with pre-emptive hyperbole too often capturing popular health movements.

Results

Conclusion