Specific types of gut bacteria may increase or decrease the risk for insomnia , while insomnia itself may in turn alter the abundance of certain gut bacteria, a new study showed. However, outside experts challenged the investigators’ assertion that the link is causal.

Investigators identified 14 groups of bacteria associated with increased risk for insomnia and eight that were linked to a decreased risk. They also found that having insomnia was linked to reduced levels of seven groups of bacteria and an increase in the amounts of 12 others.

“The study revealed that a total of 41 gut bacterial taxa have causal associations with insomnia,” Shangyun Shi, first author and medical graduate student, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China, told Medscape Medical News .

“While the impact

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