Healthier Old Individuals Have a More Diverse Gut Microbiome

Researchers here comment on recent discoveries regarding age-related changes in the gut microbiome. In recent years, evidence has amassed for microbes in the gut to have a meaningful influence over the pace of aging, perhaps even in the same ballpark as that of regular moderate exercise. In the same way that healthier older people tend to be fitter, healthier older people also tend to have more diverse gut microbe populations. How much of this is cause versus the consequence of other factors, such as changes in diet or loss of immune function that occur in old age, remains a topic for debate. There is, however, more than enough evidence from animal studies to suggest that reverting gut microbes to a more youthful distribution is beneficial - though the size of the effect on lifespan is likely to be much smaller in our species, as is usually the case for interventions of this nature.

The human gut harbors trillions of bacteria (known as the gut microbiota), which play important roles in health and diseases. Several recent studies have characterized the human gut microbiome in the elderly. Gut microbial diversity generally decreases when people age, which is likely due to changes in physiology, diet, medication, and lifestyles. Decreased diversity, considered an indicator of an unhealthy microbiome, has been linked to different chronic conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. In addition to decreased diversity, the changes of the gut microbiome composition to an...

Source: Fight Aging! - January 21, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs