microbiome tagged posts

Serum cortisol fully mediates the relationship between fecal Ruminococcus and MRS-derived brain N-acetylaspartate. First, fecal Ruminococcus negatively predicted MRS-derived brain NAA concentrations (path A). Second, fecal Ruminococcus negatively predicted serum cortisol concentrations (path B). Third, mediation effects were assessed for serum cortisol concentrations. The indirect effect (i.e., the effect of fecal Ruminococcus through serum cortisol on MRS-derived brain NAA; path B × C) was significant, and the direct effect (path A’) was not significant. Thus, serum cortisol fully mediates the relationship between fecal Ruminococcus and MRS-derived brain NAA. Abbreviation: N-acetylaspartate (NAA).

Recent studies show microbes can influence human health, behavior, and certain neurologic...

First evidence that a beneficial gut bacterium can grow when fed a carbohydrate in cranberries. Many scientists are paying new attention to prebiotics, that is, molecules we eat but cannot digest, because some may promote the growth and health of beneficial microorganisms in our intestines, says nutritional microbiologist David Sela at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In a new study, he and colleagues report the first evidence that certain beneficial gut bacteria are able to grow when fed a carbohydrate found in cranberries and further, that they exhibit a special nontypical metabolism.

Findings could add value to future food products or lead to a new supplement based on the cranberry, of which Massachusetts is a major producer.

What we eat not only nourishes us but also feeds the...

Highlights • Gut microbes show a dichotomy in ecological strategy for access to nitrogen • Beneficial microbes are overrepresented in the endogenous N source guild • Diets that reduce availability of dietary N to microbes promote healthy aging • Diet impact on host-microbiome interaction can be simplified for modeling

Scientists are one step closer to understanding the link between different diet strategies and gut health, with new research presenting the first general principles for how diet impacts the microbiota. Researchers from the University of Sydney have found that the availability of intestinal nitrogen to microbes in the gut plays a key role in regulating interactions between gut microbes and their host animal.

“This research really lays the groundwork for future modellin...

Gut microbiota of MS patients differs from healthy controls.

MS patients show lower levels of good bacteria. “Every human carries trillions of bacteria in their gut (gut microbiome) and recent advances in research indicate that these tiny passengers play an important role in our overall health maintenance,” says Ashutosh Mangalam, PhD, assistant professor of pathology at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.

Since the bacteria are associated with contributing to good health, Mangalam and his colleagues wondered whether those with a chronic autoimmune disorder, such as multiple sclerosis, would then have a gut microbiome that is different than the microbiome found in healthy individuals...