Get Down and Dirty for Brain Health
Caution, fellow urbanites: Your kids might not be getting enough quality dirt.
It turns out that there’s organism commonly found in soil called Mycobacterium vaccae that might help cognitive health. In a recent study, mice exposed to this bacterium were significantly smarter and less anxiety-ridden than their bacteria-free friends. Dr. Dorothy Matthews presented these findings at the American Society of Microbiology earlier this year.
If you want to learn more about our modern distance from dirt and how missing out on M. vaccae might affect us, check out this ABC News article.
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July 9th, 2010 at 7:51 am
I wouldn’t doubt this, I believe we’re a product of our environment. If so, millions of years of evolution have conditioned us to live in a natural environment in which very subtle symbiotic relationships occur.
We see it in many other species around the world, yet we cannot recognize our own need for nature past utilitarian purposes, that which we cannot see does not exist. Our disconnection with nature creates the belief that we’re a totally independent organism.
July 9th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Well said, Jon!