A healthy salivary microbiota is now recognized as vital not only to teeth and gums but also to remote organ sites including the brain. Not surprisingly, the oral cavity hosts a varied menu of microbes. In prior research, bacteria in the oral cavity had been linked to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Lipopolysaccharide, a component of P. […]
Microbiome Environment
For Better Sleep, Turn to Microbes
When humans sleep poorly, health suffers. Mental performance declines as risks of diseases including cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s rise. Thus the quest for a good night’s sleep brooks no limits; ergonomic mattresses, white noise machines and powerful drugs are just a few if not always fruitful fixes. Growing evidence suggests that the gut microbiome […]
Probiotics Show Value in Colds and Flu
Probiotics become more popular once the cold and flu season starts. Is that attention warranted? Increasingly, the evidence is affirmative. Research suggests that good bacteria, whether through fermented foods or supplements, have a beneficial role in respiratory infections including colds and flu. Probiotics boost respiratory health by: Reinforcing intestinal walls against pathogens Shoring up the […]
Meatless Burgers: The Gut Reaction
With meatless burgers heating up the food scene, it’s time to revisit the effects of a plant-based diet on our health, with an emphasis on microbiome impact. An excellent review published in September 2019 reviewed effects of a plant-based diet on metabolism and cognition. After winnowing down the field, the researchers from Berlin and Leipzig […]
Microbes Figure in Heart Attacks
In most countries, cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes more deaths than any other disease. And those numbers are growing as commonly implicated risk factors such as obesity and metabolic syndrome continue to soar. Search for alternate strategies in microbes Our microbiota is linked to these risk factors also as well as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and […]
New Study on Fecal Transplant in Obesity
The obesity epidemic continues unabated in spite of many decades of treatment efforts. Attention is turning to the microbiome whose composition may contribute to obesity. Earlier research showed that certain microbes control fat storage. In a groundbreaking experiment by Peter Turnbaugh and colleagues at Washington University in Missouri, obesogenic microbes transferred into germ-free mice found […]