Longevity
Incredible Gut News
Recent breakthrough studies reveal how gut bacteria directly influence Alzheimer's risk, depression, and cancer—and which bacterial strains may provide protection.
Longevity
Recent breakthrough studies reveal how gut bacteria directly influence Alzheimer's risk, depression, and cancer—and which bacterial strains may provide protection.
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The role of the gut and its inhabitants in our health is still misunderstood or not understood by many.
We still remember times when everything we now definitively know was dismissed as nonsense or relegated to "alternative medicine."
Today this is published in the world's most prestigious scientific journals. As has always been and will always remain true: those who mocked or even denied all of this are now silent.
So we currently read [source no longer available] under the title "Gut Health Can Influence the Likelihood of Developing Alzheimer's Disease":
"Most microorganisms in our gut are considered good, health-promoting bacteria, but an imbalance of these bacteria can have a toxic effect on a person's immune system and has been linked to various diseases such as depression, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's."
The researchers describe how certain "bad" bacteria produce specific acids and toxins that locally break down the intestinal mucosa, thin it out, and create tiny holes. These bacteria can then interact with, for example, the Alzheimer's risk gene variant APOE4.
This can potentially "trigger a neuroinflammatory response that impairs brain health and numerous immune functions, and may potentially promote the development of neurodegenerative disorders."
Conversely: those with the right bacteria in their gut don't just have healthy gut flora—they may also have better overall health.
In just the past few months, there have been three remarkable publications on this subject—all published in the prestigious scientific journal Cell or Cell Metabolism.
In March, [source no longer available] was published, which showed that in the gut microbiota of depressed (premenopausal) women, one bacterium—Klebsiella aerogenes—appears more frequently, and it produces an enzyme that breaks down estradiol. Pretty problematic, because in animal studies the researchers were able to prove that this enzyme breaks down estradiol in the animals' bodies. Estradiol is, of course, a female hormone known to have antidepressant effects.
In April, [source no longer available] showed that the well-known probiotic L. reuteri has anti-tumor effects in animal studies: it travels from the gut into the tumor, settles there, and breaks down the essential amino acid tryptophan into indole-3-aldehyde, which strengthens local, cancer-fighting immune cells and thus improves tumor therapy. Groundbreaking, isn't it?
Just now in May, [source no longer available] that L. plantarum L168—another well-known probiotic—produces substances, predominantly indole-3-lactic acid, which in a mouse model of colorectal cancer inhibits intestinal inflammation, suppresses tumor growth through immune cell function, and improves dysbiosis. One simple bacterial strain.
We find this absolutely fascinating.
The thing with the gut and microbes is a lot like everything that affects our health.
You can say "eat healthy" (for example, more fermented foods, more raw fruits and vegetables, etc.) and "move more"—or you can break everything down biochemically and dissect it so thoroughly that ordinary people can hardly make sense of it anymore.
We know this from sports: everyone knows that everyone should move more. Or you could describe hundreds of myokines, signaling molecules that muscles release during movement, and their complex effects on biochemical signaling pathways... and their effects in turn on the cell and the organism.
Meanwhile, every human being in the wild knows nothing about all this... and yet remains exceptionally fit and healthy.
We have the privilege of combining both worlds. The simple act, the simple use of common sense—and the joy of engaging with the complexity behind it, distilling essential knowledge for ourselves, and sharing it with others.
That's exactly what we stand for :-)
