The closer scientists look at gut bacteria, the clearer their importance to our overall health will be, and new research links a particular type of intestinal microbiome development to a longer life and healthier old age.
In a study of more than 9,000 people in three different cohorts, new research has found that our intestinal microbiomes become more unique and personalized as we age, and that the number of nuclear bacteria (such as Bacteroides) tend to decrease as well.
This pattern also seems to be associated with physical health and longevity. Therefore, people whose microbiomes do not continue to change in old age and who do not see a reduction in basic bacteria, are not usually as healthy or live as long.
“This unique signature can predict patient survival in the last decades of life,” says biochemist Tomasz Wilmanski of the Institute of Systems Biology (ISB).
“Interestingly, this pattern of uniqueness appears to begin in middle age (40-50 years) and is associated with a clear metabolic signature of the blood, suggesting that these changes in the microbiome may not only be diagnoses of healthy aging. , but they can also contribute directly to health as we age. “
It was remarkable that, even as microbiomes diverged in design at older ages, the metabolic functions they performed were consistent among individuals: researchers found certain metabolites related to longevity in people’s bowels ( and of various animals) whose microbiomes followed a healthier state. pattern.
As Wilmanski points out, the question remains whether these changes in the composition of the microbiome really contribute to good health or just reflect it, but it certainly deserves further research, scientists say, and adds some clarity to an area of research where findings they have not always been clear.
For example, metabolites called indoles that had previously been linked to reduced inflammation in the entrails of mice were discovered, and chronic inflammation is one of the health problems that is known to increase the risk of mortality in the elderly.
“Previous results in microbiome aging research appear inconsistent, with some reports showing a decrease in basic intestinal genera in centuries-old populations, while others show relative stability of the microbiome until the onset of the decreases. related to aging in health, ”says ISB microbiologist Sean Gibbons.
“Our work, which is the first to incorporate a detailed analysis of health and survival, can resolve these inconsistencies.”
Although the study as a whole covered people aged 18 to 101 years, it was a particular cohort of individuals between the ages of 78 and 98 that allowed the researchers to delve deeper into the relationship between microbiomes and mortality.
We know that it is at the beginning and end of our lives when our mixture of intestinal bacteria undergoes the most important changes, and this latest study supports the idea that a mixture of bacteria in the womb that is constantly evolving at the end is a good sign: perhaps it is an indicator of a body still prosperous in the last years of life.
The study suggests that a healthy gut microbiome (whatever it may be) may not look the same at different stages of life, and this is a useful pathway to explore in future research. It seems that our microbiomes can develop differently in older people, and some of these developments may be healthier than others.
“This is exciting work that we believe will have important clinical implications for controlling and modifying the health of the gut microbiome throughout a person’s life,” says ISB bioengineer Nathan Price.
The research has been published in Nature’s metabolism.