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Inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic remitting and relapsing condition that causes severe inflammation of the intestines and disabling bowel symptoms. It affects millions of lives globally, and although alterations in the gut microbiome have been associated with IBD, precise mechanisms remain incompletely understood. New research from McMaster University now implicates bacterial proteases in Crohn’s disease.

Bacterial extracellular vesicles: future postbiotics?

18 Oct 2022

by Konstantina Zafeiropoulou

Research into microbial extracellular vesicles has progressed significantly over several decades. Following up on the 1989 breakthrough that bacterial extracellular vesicles contain genetic information, and the recent ISAPP definition on postbiotics, current research suggests bacterial extracellular vesicles derived from probiotic bacteria may be the postbiotics of the future with potential health benefits.

Rural living, vaginal delivery, pet ownership, eating a wide variety of foods, low antibiotic use, and breast milk microbiota can prevent your children from developing a respiratory or food allergy. But what if differences in the gut microbiota could predict which children will grow out of their allergies?

The first 2-3 years of life are crucial for shaping childhood health. Amid others, the importance of early-life gut microbiota in infant’s development and later human health has been long speculated. In particular, bifidobacteria are playing an essential role in infant’s gut microbiota and immune system maturation that supports its probiotic use in that age span.

Many studies have reported changes in gut microbiome composition in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, including ulcerative colitis, when compared with healthy individuals. While that clearly raises the question about the key role played by gut microbes in IBD pathogenesis, we have yet to pinpoint the causative microbes and their mechanisms.

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