Alteration of faecal microbiota balance related to long-term deep meditation 2023 Sun et al

Abstract

Background
Advancements in research have confirmed that gut microbiota can influence health through the microbiota–gut–brain axis. Meditation, as an inner mental exercise, can positively impact the regulation of an individual’s physical and mental health. However, few studies have comprehensively investigated faecal microbiota following long-term (several years) deep meditation. Therefore, we propose that long-term meditation may regulate gut microbiota homeostasis and, in turn, affect physical and mental health.

Aims
To investigate the effects of long-term deep meditation on the gut microbiome structure.

Methods
To examine the intestinal flora, 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed on faecal samples of 56 Tibetan Buddhist monks and neighbouring residents. Based on the sequencing data, linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) was employed to identify differential intestinal microbial communities between the two groups. Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt) analysis was used to predict the function of faecal microbiota. In addition, we evaluated biochemical indices in the plasma.

Results
The α-diversity indices of the meditation and control groups differed significantly. At the genus level, Prevotella and Bacteroides were significantly enriched in the meditation group. According to the LEfSe analysis, two beneficial bacterial genera (Megamonas and Faecalibacterium) were significantly enriched in the meditation group. Functional predictive analysis further showed that several pathways—including glycan biosynthesis, metabolism and lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis—were significantly enriched in the meditation group. Moreover, plasma levels of clinical risk factors were significantly decreased in the meditation group, including total cholesterol and apolipoprotein B.

Conclusions
Long-term traditional Tibetan Buddhist meditation may positively impact physical and mental health. We confirmed that the gut microbiota composition differed between the monks and control subjects. The microbiota enriched in monks was associated with a reduced risk of anxiety, depression and cardiovascular disease and could enhance immune function. Overall, these results suggest that meditation plays a positive role in psychosomatic conditions and well-being.

Open access, https://gpsych.bmj.com/content/36/1/e100893

 

Immediate thought (as not going to read the article) I can see many confounding factors - Tibetan Buddhist monks are likely to have a totally different diet and culture to their neighbours. Neighbours, likely have quite different jobs to meditation and contemplation (and other work around the monastery and in community) because most people are not supported in the community and have to earn or get an income somehow. They may not have enough time in their day to meditate for long periods to improve their gut function.

Does it improve their immune function, where is the scientific evidence for this, and what test would show this? Depression and anxiety (very non-specific) and the “psychosomatic” conditions - all of that is pretty contentious comparing Tibetan monks to the general public. Yes, meditation may improve wellbeing for some people who wish to use this technique but is unlikely to be the sole factor in improving mental health conditions or anything else…

 

So they are claiming that diet isn't the reason for the differences found.

"No enrolled subject had taken antibiotics, probiotics, prebiotics or antifungal medications for 3 months before faecal sample collection. "

"Moreover, both groups had the same dietary structure. The staple food mainly included highland barley, rice, steamed bread and noodles, and the supplementary food primarily comprised vegetables, meat and butter tea."


however, 'Long-term deep meditation' requires commitment and time that most people won't have.

"To achieve mind training, Tibetan Buddhist monks performed meditation practices of Samatha and Vipassana for at least 2 hours a day for 3–30 years (mean (SD) 18.94 (7.56) years)."


but then they are happy to either drop any qualifiers

"These results suggest that meditation may positively impact psychosomatic conditions."


or casually assume that a 'trained therapist' will be able to provide the same benefits somehow. No doubt this paper will be quoted as support for a meditation app at some point.

"Implications
Long-term deep meditation could profoundly impact psychosomatic disorders by altering the structure of the human gut flora. In particular, with the help of a trained therapist, clinicians can provide improved treatment with earlier remission and overall improvements in patients.28 Therefore, the effectiveness of meditation in psychosomatic diseases may be a key research avenue in the coming years."

 

Presumably Tibetan monks are not press-ganged at random from the population at large; youngsters who are particularly serene are advised by their careers teacher to take up the habit. So the poo stuff is as likely to be innate as acquired through meditation.

 

It would be pretty hard to convince normal (very busy) people to assign 2 hrs of their days to deep meditation ... just to improve their poo scores. How many people today are you going to convince to going 2 hrs without checking their email/social media?

It sounds like a poorly designed and run study to me.

 

It would be easy to dismiss this silly stuff, but it's published in the BMJ, and for some reason under general psychiatry. Really seems like the medical profession has simply stopped bothering with validity for anything that can't be scrutinized by a microscope, it's all about pretending there is a signal in some noise.

On what basis have the authors decided that slight changes in gut flora could mean a revolution in psychosomatic disorders? None at all. And if psychosomatic disorders are impacted by the microbiome, then clearly that's related to digestion, all the nutrients the body uses come from that system, of course it impacts health. There is strong indication that gut microbiome is significant in some diseases, but then that's the microbiome, not people's thoughts and beliefs, and even then it's not understood how or why such that those specific alterations mean anything at all.

We are truly back in the days of folk medicine, except having abandoned physical reality, so much that the snake oil is now simply the idea of snake oil.

 

It seems naive to assume that the effects are due to meditation when monks likely differ in so many ways from the average person, some of which known and controlled for, and others unknown or uncontrolled for.

 

My view is that any research from China (or any other authoritarian State) that does not specifically record that the research has been carried out in accordance with the World Medical Association "Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects" should be subject especial scepticism.