Summary: Study finds there are distinct bacteria and metabolomic pathways associated with four personality traits.
Source: Clarkson University
Clarkson
University Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Ali Boolani is
performing research to determine if gut microbiome and metabolomic
pathways in the gut could be associated with the personality traits
mental energy, mental fatigue, physical energy, and physical fatigue.
There
are thousands of types of bacteria living in the gut, comprising what
is known as the gut microbiome. The number of each type of bacteria is
determined by many factors, such as health status, dietary habits and
even physical activity levels. Gut metabolomes are small molecules, such
as amino acids, enzymes and co-factors, that are produced by gut
microbiota.
The
gut microbiome is known to stay stable through most of one’s adult
life, unless there is a gastrointestinal issue or a person is taking
antibiotics, and personality traits can take years to change.
Boolani
and his colleagues are working to determine if there are unique gut
microbiome and metabolomic pathways that are associated with the four
personality traits.
Since
an analysis for a complete study is costly, Boolani and his
co-researchers, Lauri Byerley, Christopher Taylor and Meng Lou at
Louisiana State University; Courtney Christopher, Hector Castro, and
Shawn Campagna at University of Tennessee; Kristin Ondorak at University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Matthew Lee Smith at Texas A&M
University; and Karyn Gallivan at American Military University, chose to
first perform initial research on a small sample of young physically
active adults.
The preliminary findings, published in the journal Nutrients,
found that there are distinct bacteria and metabolomes that are
associated with each personality trait. One bacterium was associated
with three of the four personality traits, but none between all four
traits.
The
results support Boolani’s previous work that reports that mental
energy, mental fatigue, physical energy and physical fatigue are four
distinct biological moods, but there may be some overlap—for example,
you can be both physically fatigued and physically energetic at the same
time.
The
study also shows that bacteria and metabolome associated with
metabolism were associated with either mental or physical energy, while
bacteria associated with inflammation were associated with mental or
physical fatigue.
“These
new findings support my previous work where we report that feelings of
energy are associated with metabolic processes, while feelings of
fatigue are associated with inflammatory processes,” says Boolani.
“Since
we are still learning about the gut microbiome, we don’t know whether
if we try to change our personality trait, we might see a change in gut
microbiome; or if we try to change our gut microbiome, we might also
change our personality trait. Additionally, these findings may help
explain some of the interpersonal differences that we see in response to
the anti-fatiguing effects of nutritional interventions.”
Clarkson
mathematics Ph.D. student Daniel Fuller and Boolani recently published a
study in which they reported that the personality traits of mental
energy, mental fatigue, physical energy, and physical fatigue are
associated with how we respond to an acute caffeine intervention.
Although the researchers don’t know whether this response is due to gut
microbiota or epigenetic markers, the findings of the current study
provide them with some insight into the role that the gut plays in the
personality traits.
Next,
Boolani and his team plan to duplicate the current study with samples
from a much larger number of participants. They recently received a
grant to perform the full study and are currently working to gain
approval to collect a much larger sampling from participants at both
Clarkson and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“We
hope that the large study will give us more definitive answers and from
there we can see if these findings can help explain the interpersonal
differences in nutritional interventions meant to modify feelings of
energy and fatigue,” says Boolani. “However, this initial exploratory
study does guide us in terms of whether we should pursue this line of
research to examine the association between gut microbiota and these
four personality traits.”
About this microbiome and personality research news
Author: Press Office
Source: Clarkson University
Contact: Press Office – Clarkson University
Image: The image is in the public domain
Original Research: Open access.
“Trait Energy and Fatigue May Be Connected to Gut Bacteria among Young Physically Active Adults: An Exploratory Study” by Ali Boolani et al. Nutrients