Gut molecule linked to decreased myelination in mouse brains
the-scientist.com
the-scientist.com
(I apologize for the sarcasm, I know this isn't reddit. This is one in a growing number of interesting results about molecules found/created in the gut by bacteria. a previous article today was an idle musing about bacteria in the microbiome having the key job of not being worse strains of bacteria [like c. diff] without much other role)
The alternative hypothesis you discuss is not necessarily mutually exclusive with the findings in this research though. It all depends on what microbes you define as harmful, though at that point why even bother with the original generalization anyway?