What you need to know about the effects of antibiotics on the gut microbiome and how to recover after taking them
18 Sep 2024by Andreu Prados
While antibiotics save countless lives each year, they can cause irreversible changes to the balance of the gut ecosystem. Learn more about the short- and long-term effects of antibiotics on gut health, as well as science-based strategies for recovery after their use.
The microbial colonization of a baby's gut is primarily influenced by the mother's vaginal microbiota during birth and by breast milk. Two new studies have found for the first time that fathers also contribute to the establishment of the baby's microbiota, which could have health implications.
Two hospitals in Barcelona, the Clínic and Bellvitge, have launched Spain's first Fecal Microbiota Bank. Their goal is to obtain donations of stool from healthy individuals to perform microbiota transplants on patients suffering from potentially fatal infections of bacteria known as C. difficile infections. We step into the fecal microbiota transfer units of both hospitals to learn how they operate and meet some of the donors.
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Food 4 Gut Health news
For the first time, a European group of researchers have analyzed the microbiome of more than 2,500 different types of foods. The insights gained will help better identify good and bad ‘bugs’ and improve the quality and safety of existing products. Additionally, the research sheds light on the influence of food microbiome on our own gut microbiome and overall health.
While gut health and the microbiome have captured the attention of both researchers and the lay public, there is a gulf between popular media claims about gut health and the actual science. We spoke to Kristina Campbell, a microbiome science writer, about her new book on the subject called “Gut Health for Dummies”.
Research & Practice news
From fighting tumors to improving longevity: How gut microbes build a robust immune system
20 Nov 2024by Francesco Broccolo
As it becomes evident that the microbiome impacts the function of the human immune system, scientists have begun to leverage intestinal microbes to reduce harmful inflammation, fight some tumors, and prevent diseases.
Writing in Nature Reviews Microbiology, a group of scientists updates the healthy human microbiome concept by combining independent measures of both the host and the microbial community health, and proposes a framework for discovering health and disease-associated microbial signatures in diverse populations.
Are we getting closer to defining a ‘healthy’ gut microbiome? Here’s what recent studies show
28 Oct 2024by Hervé Blottière
While a higher gut microbiome diversity is generally considered a marker of health, specific microbial features that predict a host’s health and well-being are unknown. New studies characterize healthy gut microbiome trajectories in children and adults and link them to health outcomes.
