Evidence continues to mount that the gut microbiome mediates many important physiological functions. See the article linked above in this post’s title, for one example. In turn, two things are known to mess up the gut microbiome: antibiotics—which therefore should be used sparingly, only when really needed—and eating sugar (which can also be described as eating processed food, since sugar and processed food are so highly correlated).

The bottom line is that many things that otherwise wouldn’t sound like possible mechanisms are possible when the gut microbiome is part of the causal pathway. Watch out!