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A new review investigates whether influencing the composition of the gut microbiome can improve brain health.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Specifically, we focus on probiotics, prebiotics, dietary changes, and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT).<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n The authors conclude that modulating the gut microbiome may slow cognitive decline and improve brain health.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n This effect may be due to decreased inflammation in the brain, changes in neurotransmitter signaling, and increased levels of microbial metabolites.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Even if a nutrition or health trend becomes popular on social media, it’s best to remain skeptical. Much of the content that is shared is inaccurate at best and flat-out wrong at worst.<\/p>\n But gut health bucks this trend. Gut bacteria have become an internet sensation, but evidence is mounting that they are broadly important to overall health.<\/p>\n New reviews on probiotics and cognitive health will be added to this growing stack. The study was published in the journal Nutrition Research.<\/p>\n Although the authors call for further research, the conclusions are positive. They found that modulating the gut microbiome may help improve thinking skills in older adults who suffer from early cognitive decline.<\/strong><\/p>\n Overall, although this is still a very young field and there is much work to be done, they conclude that “microbiota modulation is a promising therapeutic target that complements existing pharmacological and lifestyle interventions.”<\/p>\n Decades ago, if someone had claimed that bacteria in the colon could slow cognitive decline or support mental health, it would have been considered fringe and probably frowned upon.<\/p>\n Today, this is not at all far-fetched. It will take many years to understand the exact relationship, but it is now well within mainstream science.<\/p>\n Each of us has trillions of microorganisms living in our intestines. They aid in digestion, aid in the manufacture of vitamins, and help produce a range of compounds that support health.<\/p>\n We now know that they can also talk to the brain through multiple pathways known as the gut-brain axis.<\/p>\n One of these communication pathways is the vagus nerve, which travels between the gut and the brain. The other is due to compounds such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that bacteria produce when they ferment fibers.<\/p>\n SCFAs stimulate the vagus nerve directly, but they can also reach the brain via the bloodstream.<\/p>\n As we age, our cognitive abilities tend to decline. However, some people decline more quickly than others and eventually develop cognitive decline that progresses to dementia.<\/p>\n As the population steadily ages, it becomes increasingly important to understand risk factors and lifestyle interventions that may reduce the burden. Some scientists are focusing on the power of microbes.<\/p>\n Probiotics are live bacteria that provide health benefits when consumed in sufficient amounts. Anyone who has been to a store recently has seen probiotics included in pills, shakes, toothpaste, and everything in between.<\/p>\n Overall, the evidence that over-the-counter probiotics support health is fairly weak, especially in people who are already healthy. They have had limited success in treating health conditions, except in some very special cases, such as antibiotic-associated diarrhea.<\/p>\n However, this is to be expected. There are hundreds of species of bacteria in the human gut, and each person’s microbiome is unique.<\/p>\n Even identical twins, who are essentially genetic clones, have different gut bacteria. Therefore, it is not surprising that adding a few strains of microorganisms does not have a measurable effect on everyone. <\/strong><\/p>\n However, that doesn’t mean this approach is useless. The better you understand, the more likely you are to discover the seeds, strains, or doses needed to produce specific benefits.<\/p>\n Besides probiotic foods and drinks, other technologies are also popular. For example, prebiotics are essentially food for bacteria.<\/p>\n Eating more prebiotics, such as dietary fiber, more generally supports the growth of “good” gut bacteria.<\/p>\n Another approach is to use synbiotics, which are simply a mixture of prebiotics and probiotics. Finally, fecal microbial transplantation (FMT) is another technique that is gaining increasing interest.<\/p>\n Recent reviews have considered various approaches to maintaining cognitive health as we age, including probiotics, prebiotics, dietary interventions, and FMT. The authors also discuss the mechanisms by which these approaches protect cognitive health.<\/p>\n The review included data from 15 studies conducted in 10 countries and more than 4,200 participants aged 45 and older. Their conclusion is:<\/p>\n Dietary interventions featured in this review included the Mediterranean diet, keto diet, and omega-3 and methyl donor supplements.<\/p>\n The latter includes B12, folic acid, choline, and methionine. These compounds support functions such as gene expression and energy production.<\/p>\n Overall, the authors concluded that dietary intervention has the potential to restructure the gut microbiota, increase SCFA production, and stabilize neurotransmitter networks. <\/strong><\/p>\n It can also promote cognitive health and reduce inflammation in the brain. This is important because there is growing evidence that neuroinflammation plays an important role in mental health disorders and cognitive decline.<\/p>\n In this category, the authors conclude that probiotics and synbiotics may improve verbal fluency and executive functions, including working memory and cognitive flexibility.<\/p>\n They also found that these interventions increased gut microbiome diversity, a measure of microbiome health, and altered neurotransmitter pathways.<\/strong><\/p>\n Although there is far less research on FMT than other interventions, the authors describe the results as “preliminary but surprising.”<\/p>\n The studies included in this review recruited patients with Alzheimer’s disease. FMT was associated with more rapid changes in the gut microbiome than probiotics, synbiotics, or dietary interventions.<\/strong><\/p>\n Most importantly, the study also measured improvements in cognitive performance and other measures of cognitive decline. However, further research is needed.<\/p>\n The conclusion of this review is upbeat. These hint at the possibility that we might one day be able to modulate our gut microbiota to slow dementia and keep us sharp as we age. But we are not there yet.<\/p>\n The studies included in this review are mostly small and short-term.<\/p>\n Currently, commercially available probiotics are not selected solely for their potential health benefits.<\/p>\n Instead, they are considered safe for human consumption. This means that some probiotics may improve brain health but may not be commercially available.<\/p>\n As for FMT, this is not something that is easily accessible. That leaves us with a dietary intervention that we have more control over.<\/p>\n Today’s medical news<\/em> We spoke with Federica Amati, Ph.D., MPH, RNutr, about the best ways to improve the health of your gut microbiome through diet.<\/p>\n Amati, who was not involved in the review, is a medical scientist, public health registered dietitian, and research fellow at the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, UK.<\/p>\n “In the UK and US, the majority of people don’t get enough fiber. This has a direct impact on the health of the gut microbiome. Without fiber, the gut bacteria have nothing to eat,” she told us.<\/p>\n Fiber is found in basically all plants, and Amati suggested aiming to eat 30 different plants per week. “This is important because there are many different types of fibers and different microorganisms have different preferences, so consuming a variety of plants will ensure that all plants are supported,” she explained.<\/strong><\/p>\n She also suggested limiting your intake of ultra-processed foods whenever possible. These products don’t contain enough fiber to support “good” microbes, but they also contain a long list of additives that can harm microbes, and their sugar and fat content can also encourage the growth of “bad” gut bacteria.<\/p>\n “Fermented foods are also a great option. Fermented foods contain natural probiotics and are often much more varied than commercially available probiotic supplements. Fermented vegetables like kimchi and sauerkraut are especially good because they are fermented plants and are natural symbiotics.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n View original article on Medical News Today<\/p>\n<\/div>\n #probiotics #dietary #protect #brain #health #age<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Probiotics and dietary changes may support cognitive function as we age, a new review concludes. design: MNT;Photography: Guido Mies\/Getty Images, Peter Mead\/Getty ImagesThis article was originally published on Medical News Today A new review investigates whether influencing the composition of the gut microbiome can improve brain health. Specifically, we focus on probiotics, prebiotics, dietary changes, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,484],"tags":[636,672,2010,1624,2013,2014,2011,173,2016,1046,2015,542,2012,1534],"class_list":["post-864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-nutrition","tag-age","tag-brain","tag-decline-in-cognitive-function","tag-dietary","tag-dietary-changes","tag-dietary-fiber","tag-fmt","tag-health","tag-inflammation-in-the-brain","tag-intestinal-microbiota","tag-lifestyle-intervention","tag-mental-health","tag-probiotics","tag-protect"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsura.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A new but fast-paced field<\/h2>\n
Cognitive decline, powerful microbes, probiotics<\/h2>\n
Gut and brain health: New review leaves gaps remaining<\/h2>\n
dietary intervention<\/h3>\n
Probiotics and synbiotics<\/h3>\n
FMT<\/h3>\n
What should you eat for brain health?<\/h2>\n
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