A small study links the type of bacteria living in people’s digestive system to a desire for chocolate. Everyone has a vast community of microbes in their guts. But people who crave daily chocolate show signs of having different colonies of bacteria than people who are immune to chocolate’s allure.
That may be the case for other foods, too.
So we are (in some way, at least) controlled by the little guys in the guts? We humans like to think we rule the planet, when in fact microorganisms are the fittest in most environments. I personally like to think that eating chocolate and prefer pepsi over coke is out of my free will, not the microbes in my guts. And I’d also like to think I went to school, got a job, and maintined a healthy diet is for myself, not for the masters in my guts.
This research gave a new meaning to "gut reaction".
<Photo credit: nature.com>
