United States: Recent studies have shown that the bacteria in your intestines can majorly impact your risk of illness. The less this bacteria found in our guts will make a helpful substance called butyrate is more at risk.
Microbiome Composition Linked to Illness Risk
A study of over 600 hospitalized patients showed that their microbiomes contained fewer microorganisms that could generate butyrate, an advantageous fatty acid.
As the bacteria break down the fiber humans ingest, they produce butyrate. It has already been demonstrated that those battling severe illnesses have fewer germs.
Although butyrate has also been demonstrated to benefit mice’s immune systems, it was unclear if this was true for people.
Insights into Microbiome Health
Study co-author Bob Kullberg, a doctoral student at Amsterdam University Medical Center in the Netherlands, said, “We didn’t know whether the less healthy gut flora is due to the acute infection and its treatment or whether they have always had less of the butyrate-producing bacteria in their microbiome.” “The study now answers this chicken-and-egg question.”
After examining stool samples from over 10,000 participants, researchers identified 16 different bacteria that produce butyrate.
There were 602 hospital admissions throughout the research.
Practical Implications and Future Research
According to a medical center news release, “In people with 10% more of those bacteria in their gut, the chance of getting an infection decreases by as much as 15% to 25%.” Kullberg stated.
This implies that infections other than those of the stomach, similar as those of the bladder or lungs, are told by the microbiome. Experimenters considered several variables that might impact the composition of bacteria in the gut, including age, once antibiotic operation, and underpinning medical conditions.
The study’s findings were released in The Lancet Microbe on June 20.
The experimenters’ findings emphasize the significance of a healthy microbiome. They also open the door to prognosticating an existent’s threat of infection and implicit treatments.
“More research is required to determine how we can raise butyrate levels through diet or probiotics to avoid serious infections,” said Dr. Joost Wiersinga, co-author of the study and chair of the medical center’s Division of Infectious Diseases.