Study uncovers microbiota differences in impulsive and non-impulsive female convicts

Now I know that most people don’t get excited by this kind of headline – but I did! That is probably because I have been reading quite about our brain and philosophical questions pertaining to Free Will and Consciousness [AI] – most of which seems to point in the direction that we have little, if any, real Free Will. Obviously, like you, I am rather offended by this conclusion and yet these claims are made by people who know much more about this than me and are also probably smarter than me so I feel I am must at least entertain the possibility that they may be at least partially correct.

In this little exploration of Free Will we’re only going to focus on one small aspect of it: the impact of a toxic environment – where by toxin I mean a chemical or a social situation/trauma – on our ability to exert a maximum amount of free. Within this question I accept the fact that our Free Will has limits – but I hope to find if we have a bit of Free Will, but I also wonder if it only exists with lots of hard work and also a non-toxic environment that does not scramble our nervous system. Let’s start with a quote form the above mentioned headline [1]:

A study comparing impulsively violent female convicts with age-matched non-impulsive female convicts identified four groups of bacterial species with differing abundances between the two groups. Genera Bacteroides, Barnesiella, and the order Rhodospirillales were more abundant in impulsive women, while bacteria from the genus Catenisphaera were more abundant in non-impulsive women. Scientists have relatively recently discovered the existence of a bidirectional pathway linking the brain with bacteria living in the human gut. This pathway, known as the microbiota-gut-brain axis, suggests that gut microbes can influence critical processes in the body, including human behavior. there were differences in the relative abundances of four bacterial groups. Genera Bacteroides, Barnesiella, and the order Rhodospirillales were more abundant in impulsive women, whereas bacteria from the genus Catenisphaera were more abundant in non-impulsive women.

In other words, the bacterial populations in your gut change who you are. And do these bacteria get there? They are greatly affected by what you eat, the chemicals in the air, water, soil and packaging of anything you touch. PFAs are a case in point [4]. The impact of bacteria living inside of us upon who we are raises the question: “Who am I?”. Clearly, based recent research into the Brain-Gut axis our Free Will is affected by whatever creatures happen to living in our guts. Here is what other research tells us about this fact [2]:

Your gut is a bustling and thriving alien colony. They number in their trillions and include thousands of different species. Many of these microorganisms, including bacteria, archaea and eukarya, were here long before humans, have evolved alongside us and now outnumber our own cells many times over. Collectively, these microbial legions are known as the “microbiota” – and they play a well-established role in maintaining our physical health, from digestion and metabolism to immunity. But what if they also had a hotline to our minds? Over the last few decades, researchers have started to uncover curious, compelling – and sometimes controversial – evidence to suggest that the gut microbiota doesn’t just help to keep our brains in prime working order by helping to free up nutrients for it from our food, but may also help to shape our very thoughts and behaviour.

So what can you do about increasing the degree of Free Will that you have? First realize that “you” are a complex ecosystem and “you” include all the legion of microbes that live within you. Toxins – whether they be chemicals or processed foods or even a “toxic” social environment – can change yoru gut biota populations. Second, the old adage “you are what you eat” is literally true – and you have some control over that and thus, indirectly, Free Will, Of course in the age of micro/nano plastics in your food and PFAs in your water this is a huge challenge, but, nonetheless, you can eat organic – if you are wealthy enough – and you can avoid processed foods and any food or drink wrapped in plastic, and by the way this includes liquids in cans because they are lined with plastic containing PFAs. Is this hard? Yes! Is it almost impossible? Yes! But, you really want to maintain your Free Will – especially for the grandchildren in your life whose nervous system in still being formed – I’d say it’s worth the effort.

P.s. If you have a background in Biology you will find this deep dive into the impact of your gut biome on various diseases fascinating [3]: Gut–Brain Axis: Role of Gut Microbiota on Neurological Disorders