The composition of the bacteria in our guts changes as we grow older. These changes can cause inflammation that harms the body and accelerates ageing. Scientists discovered that animals that received a ‘younger’ gut flora back lived longer and healthier lives. This makes it logical that the composition of gut bacteria says something about how fast someone is biologically ageing.
Researchers developed a new model that can predict the link between gut bacteria and biological age. This model looks at certain types of bacteria that have a positive or negative influence on the ageing process. For instance, one bacterium was found to slow down the ageing process, whereas another species actually accelerates the pace of ageing.
These discoveries could lead in the future to treatments in which the gut flora is consciously altered. The idea is to reduce harmful bacteria and stimulate healthy ones using, for example, probiotics, so that the ageing process is slowed down. Currently, there are already ways to ‘rejuvenate’ the gut flora, but these are not yet easily controllable or applicable to everyone.
This research is important because it shows that improving gut health can have a direct influence on our biological ageing process. For anyone wanting to age healthily, paying attention to the gut microbiota could increasingly become part of their lifestyle.
Source: Reason
