In bound-to-be-controversial new research, scientists claim they’ve discovered a link between the specific balance of microflora in the gut and psychopathic behavior
As detailed in a yet-to-be-peer-reviewed study, a team of researchers led by University of Porto biomedical scientist Carolina Costa say they’ve found the first-ever evidence of how microbiota could influence traits linked to psychopathy — a controversial personality construct characterized by lack of empathy, poor behavior control, as well as antisocial and in extreme cases criminal behavior.
As Science Alert points out, previous research has found that psychopaths can share similar brain structures, including pathways in the prefrontal cortex. The latest paper, however, suggests those links could even extend into the microbiome.
“We hypothesized that the composition of the gut and oral microbiota may be associated with subclinical psychopathic personality traits,” the researchers wrote in the paper, an “unedited version” of which was shared by the journal Translational Psychiatry. “To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore this association.”
