Akkermansia muciniphila. Despite the tricky moniker, keep this name in mind, because it is the next generation of promising probiotics coming from your gut microbiota. Yes, you have got it right. Recent studies have already shed light on the bunch of positive effects it has on our overall health. For instance, during the last Gut Microbiota for Health World Summit, held in Rome, scientists highlighted the role of this bacterium for stimulating the host immune response and metabolic health.

The bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila may play an essential role in treating metabolic diseases

To all the already known benefits, after a decade studying this microorganism close up, Patrice D. Cani, researcher from the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research and team leader of the Metabolism and Nutrition research group, has discovered one more positive effect: that Akkermansia muciniphila can play a leading role in treating metabolic diseases. That is why he was the subject of a recent interview by the Belgian edition of the magazine Paris Match.

Introduced as the scientist who might stir up the gut, Cani, who is a member of Gut Microbiota for Health’s scientific board, explains in the interview that he started to study this part of the body soon after the sequencing of the human genome in 2007. Only three years later, he was able to observe the effects of the presence or lack of Akkermansia muciniphila in animals. In 2017 he published his results in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Medicine.

In the interview, Cani talks about the gut, calling it a key organ where the vast majority of immune cells can be found, along with a large number of neurons. He explains how all his research is tied to the gut microbiota and its role alongside other distant organs in the development of diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and liver diseases.

Patrice Cani defines the intestine as a key organ, where most of the body’s immune cells—along with numerous neurons—are found

Cani has previously talked to Gut Microbiota for Health about his research on the role of bacteria in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases and also about how probiotics, and particularly Akkermansia muciniphila, and prebiotics can improve or prevent the development of some diseases.

For those of you who can speak French, the interview published in Paris Match is worth a read, providing interesting information for the general public with a touch of humor. Don’t miss it!

If you want to continue learning about Cani’s research and discoveries, you can also have a look at this interview by RTBF (in French).