Aging

Resveratrol Proven to Slow Brain and Muscle Aging

Resveratrol is powerful phytoalexin, a group of naturally occurring antimicrobial and antioxidant compounds produced by plants, that can be found in red wine, raw cacao, pistachios, peanuts, and dark berries such as red grapes, blueberries and muscadines. Like other antioxidants, resveratrol can help the body to fight and repair cellular damage.

Research over the past decade has indicated that resveratrol could promote heart health and may also possess anticancer and anti-inflammatory effects. Adding to its growing list of health benefits, a recent batch of studies suggests that resveratrol may repair and protect from damage to both muscle fibers and neural synapses brought upon by aging.

According to Dr. Gregorio Valdez, assistant professor at Virginia Tech and author of one such study, “we all slow down as we get older. Gait, balance issues, and impaired motor coordination contribute to health problems, accidents, lack of mobility and a lower quality of life. We work on identifying molecular changes that slow down motor deficits that occur with aging. I believe that we are getting closer to tapping into mechanisms to slow age-induced degeneration of neuronal circuits.”

Resveratrol Promotes Healthy Aging of Muscle Fibers

After reaching middle age, most adults will begin to lose an average of three percent of their muscle mass, strength and endurance each year. This age-related decline in muscular function referred to as sarcopenia greatly affects quality of life and may decrease life expectancy. According to recent research, resveratrol may both repair and protect against such muscular degeneration.

Regular exercise helps slow the loss of muscle mass but may also lead to muscle damage and joint pain in an already stressed body. Resveratrol has been shown in numerous studies to ease joint pain, reduce inflammation and repair the cartilage breakdown associated with arthritis. A new study out of Australia shows resveratrol is also beneficial in this way to the skeletal muscles. The team’s findings echo other research exhibiting how the administration of resveratrol greatly increases aerobic performance and both prevents and repairs damage to muscles that results from exercising.

Reduced blood flow due to age can be both a symptom of and contributing factor to muscular decline. A study led by researchers from Harvard and published in Cell found that resveratrol activates the same genes that normally respond to diet and exercise, healing the vascular system, improving blood flow and increasing endurance in elderly mice.

Muscle atrophy, a partial or complete wasting away of muscle tissue, can result from sarcopenia, inactivity, as well as neuromuscular disease. A research paper recently published in the International Journal of Medical Sciences examined the adaptive changes in muscles after inducing sciatic nerve damage in mice that were fed either a normal diet or a resveratrol-supplemented diet. Their research showed that resveratrol “significantly prevents” muscle atrophy.

Resveratrol Protects the Brain From the Effects of Aging

Skeletal muscles aren’t the only form of atrophy that resveratrol may prevent. Cerebral atrophy and the degradation of neuronal synapses are typical effects of the aging process and can ultimately lead to cognitive decline and memory problems as well as provoke interference with the body’s ability to deal with stress. Research shows resveratrol possesses several significant neuroprotective benefits.

Previous research has indicated that proper diet and exercise can help to neuronal synapses from the typical wear and tear of aging. In one study published in The Journals of Gerontology, researchers discovered that resveratrol has many of the same neuroprotective benefits of combining a low-calorie diet with regular exercise.

Other studies also seem to suggest that resveratrol may help to slow down age-related cognitive decline, protecting from and repairing damage done to the brain. Several studies indicate that the neuroprotective effects of resveratrol may make it a useful therapy for those suffering from cognitive disorders such as dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Dr. Valdez concludes that for researchers, “the next step is to identify the mechanism that enables resveratrol to protect synapses. If we know the mechanism, we can modify resveratrol or look for other molecules that are more effective at protecting the synapses.”

Don’t Raise Your Wine Glass Just Yet

While resveratrol shows great potential, experts do caution that because of the relatively low concentrations of resveratrol found in food sources such as wine, people would not likely see the same massive neuroprotective benefits exhibited in the mice studies.

According to Valdez, “in wine, resveratrol is in such small amounts you could not drink enough of it in your life to have the benefits we found in mice given resveratrol. These studies are in mice and I would caution anyone from blasting their bodies with resveratrol in any form.”

New Evidence Shows That Antibiotics Shorten Lifespan

Apr 05 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Due to the rising threat of antimicrobial resistance, antibiotics have received an increasing amount of attention in recent years. It is well-known that antibiotics interrupt the millions of microorganisms that make up our body’s natural gut flora. Recent research has shown that the microbiota in our gastrointestinal tract plays a crucial role in maintaining immune function, hormonal balance and even mental health. With this in mind, researchers set out to determine whether this link could mean that antibiotics shorten lifespan. According to their preliminary findings, the effects of long-term use of antibiotics by women later in life may be linked to an increased risk of death from heart disease or other causes.

Researchers Examine How Antibiotics Alter Gut Health

In collaborative efforts between Tulane and Harvard universities, researchers evaluated the link between antibiotic usage and cause-specific risk of death. Previous studies have shown that antibiotics can cause significant changes in gut microbiota, the microorganisms that live in the digestive tract. Researchers hoped to investigate whether these microbiota change in a way that can increase a person’s risk of developing cancers, heart disease, or other serious illnesses.

“Gut microbiota alterations have been associated with a variety of life-threatening disorders, such as cardiovascular diseases and certain types of cancer,” according to the lead author of the study, Dr. Lu Qi, professor of epidemiology at Tulane University in New Orleans. “Antibiotic exposure affects balance and composition of the gut microbiome, even after one stops taking antibiotics; so, it is important to better understand how taking antibiotics might impact risks for chronic diseases and death.”

One of the first observational studies to quantify how antibiotics can affect gut and heart health, the research findings were presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Lifestyle conference.

The team followed more than 37 thousand US women who were aged 60 years and older. The women, who were free of heart disease and cancer at the study’s start, reported their antibiotic usage and were then classified based upon this frequency of use. Researchers followed the study group from 2004 until the study’s conclusion in June of 2012.

Researchers analyzed the data and took into account risk factors for heart disease, such as diet, blood pressure, the presence of diabetes and the use of medications. The study found that women who took antibiotics for two or more months in late adulthood had a 27 percent higher mortality rate than women who did not take antibiotics. Taking antibiotics for two or more months in late adulthood was associated with a 58 percent higher risk of death from cardiovascular-related issues than compared to no use of antibiotics. This association was most pronounced in women who reported having also used antibiotics between the ages of 40 and 59. No associations were found between antibiotic use and an increased risk of cancer-related death.

Researchers caution that despite the strong correlation between long-term antibiotic usage and an increased risk of death, more research is needed to determine if the link is causal and what the triggers may be. According to the team, “although we observed a notable association between long-term antibiotic use and risk of death, it isn’t yet clear whether long-term antibiotic use is the specific cause of the association. For example, women who reported antibiotic use might be sicker in other unmeasured ways.” They concluded, “these results, however, contribute to a better understanding of risk factors for all-cause and cardiovascular death. We now have good evidence that people who take antibiotics for long periods during adulthood may be a high-risk group to target for risk-factor modification to prevent heart disease and death.”

Why Gut Health Is so Critical to Overall Health

There are over 100 trillion bacteria in the human body, and most of them reside in your gastrointestinal tract. These beneficial bacteria play an important role in our well-being by aiding digestion, vitamin and mineral absorption, hormone regulation and immune response.

Along with these microbes, the human gut is home to millions of neurons that are embedded along the walls of the gastrointestinal tract, which communicate directly with our brain to control well-being. This “second brain,” the enteric nervous system, fires off of the same neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine, as our brain and is responsible for the majority of our immune function and mood balance.

How the Gut Microbiome Can Negatively Affect Your Health

The complex communication link between the gut and the brain is a bidirectional feedback loop. Any microbial imbalance of the gut, a condition known as dysbiosis, will wreak havoc upon our brains and our bodies. Gut microbiome imbalance has been associated with health issues such as:

Intestinal diseases like irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease and ulcerative colitis
High cholesterol and an increased risk for heart disease
Blood glucose imbalance and an increased risk of diabetes
Neuropsychological disorders such as schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder
Depression, anxiety and insomnia
Inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis

Ways You Can Improve Your Gut Microbiome

There are a number of different measures you can take to promote a healthy gut. Here are just a few:

Limit usage of antibiotics unless absolutely necessary. Antibiotics kill both the good and bad bacteria in the gut and can have an effect on gut balance for up to a year.
Eat a varied whole-foods based diet that is full of fruits and vegetables and high in fiber and whole grains. High-fiber foods such as legumes, whole grains and oats contain beneficial fiber that promotes healthy bacterial growth
Eat plenty of probiotic- and prebiotic-rich foods. Fermented foods such as kefir, sauerkraut, and yogurt are good sources of healthy bacteria like Lactobacilli, while foods such as apples, artichokes, oats and bananas are rich in prebiotic fiber that stimulates the growth of these healthy bacteria.
Take prebiotic and probiotic supplements. Probiotic supplements contain live strains of the beneficial bacteria that help to restore gastrointestinal stasis. Prebiotics help the good bacteria do their job.
Limit your intake of highly-processed foods, sugars and artificial sweeteners. These are well-known to feed the bad bacteria in our guts.

Resveratrol and Depression: Recent Research Offers Hope for New Treatments

Feb 23 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Resveratrol, a compound most commonly know to be found in grapes and wine, has been hailed in research as a potential future treatment benefiting everything from cellular health to cardiovascular health. Many of these health benefits appear to be linked to the compound’s anti-inflammatory actions. According to new research on resveratrol and depression, this safe and natural supplement may also be an effective way of tackling one of the United States’ most challenging mood disorders.

Treating Depression: A Modern Challenge

Modern people report experiencing depression and anxiety more than generations past. In fact, over 18 percent of American adults are suffering from this mood disorder at any given time. Although all people have times when they are sad, clinical depression is more than mere sadness. In fact, it can be incredibly debilitating. People with this illness suffer from a wide variety of symptoms including fatigue, difficulty eating and sleeping, a loss of pleasure in normal daily activities and even physical pain.

Despite the growing prevalence of depression, there are very few evidence-based treatment options. The current recommendations call for antidepressant medications combined with therapy and lifestyle changes. Although there is a wide availability of these treatments, more than half of people with clinical depression do not respond to medical therapies. For these people, depression is often a long term and even lifelong battle simply to enjoy life. However, new research suggests that resveratrol may be a natural solution to the treatment of certain types of depression.

Resveratrol and Depression Treatment: New Hope

Prior research on resveratrol and mood disorders has been promising. A prior study found that mice who are given supplements of this flavonoid had a smaller inflammatory response to stress. They showed epigenetic changes consistent with higher levels of resilience. These mice also had smaller amounts of the brain synapse changes that are associated with both stress and major depressive disorder. Mice who take resveratrol have also been found to show lower levels of behaviors associated with clinical depression.

New research has shown more light on the connection between stress-related inflammation and depression. For this study, researchers distilled the three polyphenols present in grapes — including resveratrol — that they believed were responsible for preventing the inflammation and changes in brain synapses. Mice who received a supplement containing these polyphenols showed less of an inflammatory response. Surprisingly, the polyphenols each appear to reduce inflammation and neurological changes in different ways. They work synergistically to produce a measurable decrease in symptoms of depression. This could shed light on the mechanisms behind many of the health benefits attributed to resveratrol.

Are You Getting Enough Resveratrol?

Although more research will be needed to determine if the same effect is present in humans, this is promising research. Not only does it propose a new and potentially more effective therapy for depression, but it also offers new insight into the physiological cause of depression. Resveratrol appears to have a variety of positive effects on both physical and emotional health, which leads many to wonder: Are we getting enough resveratrol in our diets?

Many of the foods that contain high levels of resveratrol are not common in the Western diet. These foods include:

certain nuts such as peanuts and pistachios
red grapes and foods and drinks that contain these, such as wine
red and blue berries such as cranberries and blueberries
chocolate and cocoa, especially dark chocolate

Many people in the United States and Europe are not eating enough of these foods to get the health benefits of resveratrol. If you are concerned about getting enough of this disease-fighting compound, there are also resveratrol supplements. These can ensure that you get the health benefits of this compound even when your diet isn’t perfect.

Natural Ways to Improve Your Mood

Although there are few medical options for treating depression, there are several natural remedies that have been found to be effective. In addition to resveratrol, consider trying the following strategies:

Keep a set routine even if you don’t feel like it.
Get plenty of physical exercise, especially in the outdoors.
Make sure you are getting enough sleep and sleeping at roughly the same times every day.
Set small and easily attainable goals.
Consider taking supplements that have been found to have an effect on depression, such as fish oil, folic acid, and SAMe.

Although depression is a difficult battle regardless of your treatment approach, it does not have to be a lifelong struggle. There are a variety of different options, many completely natural, that may be able to help you overcome this illness. Resveratrol is not yet approved as a remedy for depression, but ongoing studies show that it is very promising in treating this difficult-to-treat illness.

Old Human Cells Rejuvenated by Resveratrol-like Compounds

Nov 15 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

The anti-aging industry pulls in billions of dollars every year with promises of helping people preserve both health and beauty. While beauty products offer to keep us young with creams and serums, scientists suggest that youth comes from the inside out. What we feed our cells can make all the difference in whether they stay young and healthy over our lifetime. According to new research, plant compounds called resveralogues may be important in keeping our bodies healthy and cells rejuvenated.

What Causes Aging?

Understanding the root cause of aging is essential to learning how to stop it. There are several factors that contribute to cellular aging and eventually death. Oxidation is one such important factor. Although our cells need oxygen to survive, this comes at a cost. Metabolic processes that use oxygen split the oxygen molecule into two free radicals. These radicals can cause great destruction to cells if not controlled. While our body has natural antioxidant abilities, eating antioxidant vitamins and compounds also is necessary to keep free oxygen radicals from damaging DNA.

Telomeres also are an important part of aging. These structures act as a cap on the end of DNA and prevent DNA from being damaged during division. They become thinner and thinner until they finally wear away and are unable to protect DNA. This leads to issues with DNA division, which is necessary for cells to replicate and replenish tissues. When people are young, they make an enzyme called telomerase that rebuilds telomeres so cell division can occur almost constantly. However, as we age the body stops making telomerase, leading to less frequent cell division and more visible damage to tissues.

Last, a process called mRNA splicing appears to be a factor in aging. This process occurs after proteins have been created by the cell. In mRNA splicing, different “building blocks” are spliced together to make functional cell components. Splicing factors are chemicals that tell the body to perform mRNA splicing and create new components to support cell division and divide. Cells that have replicated many times eventually stop undergoing mRNA splicing due to a lack of these factors, causing an aged appearance.

What Are Resveralogues?

Have you heard that red wine and dark chocolate can be good for your health? This is indeed true due to both containing a natural compound called resveratrol. Resveratrol is a natural plant compound found in red wine, red grapes, red berries, chocolate and even peanuts. It has been linked to a variety of anti-aging and anti-oxidant effects. This, in turn, has been linked to lower risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and a variety of other life-threatening diseases. Resveratrol also has been found to lead to longer life spans in cells of a variety of kinds, from human cells to even simple yeast.

There are several compounds that are biochemically similar to resveratrol and thus have the same effects. These compounds are called resveralogues. These compounds may be the key to maintaining healthy youthful cells longer than we ever thought possible before.

How Are Cells Rejuvenated by Resveratrol-Like Compounds?

Resveralogues appear to be key to preventing aging by encouraging the production of splicing factors and thus cell division.

Scientists were able to grow human cells in vitro, or in a Petrie dish. These cells eventually aged enough times that they became aged and stopped making splicing factors. As expected, cell division slowed and even stopped. However, when resveralogues were added to the cells they regained function. One important function that they gained was the production of splicing factors. This, in turn, caused the cells to begin dividing once again, creating new, young, healthy cells.

Could this compound stop aging in its tracks? The scientists behind the research are hopeful. They also point out that more study will be needed before an anti-aging treatment can be developed from this knowledge. Professor Lorna Harries, one of the lead researchers, notes that “We are now trying to see if we can find out how the changes in splicing factor levels [cause] cell rescue. We have more papers in preparation on this.”

Preserving Youth From the Inside Out

It is clear that what we eat can have as great of an effect on aging as anything we apply to our skin. Preserving health from the inside out should be the goal of any anti-aging product. Until resveralogues are available on the mass market, people who wish to remain young should continue to take in antioxidants and other supplements known to reduce the effects of aging. Vitamins C and E, as well as foods containing resveratrol, all have been found to be effective in many research trials.

Researchers are constantly making new discoveries about natural ways that we can remain healthier and more youthful throughout our lives. Someday maintaining smooth skin, a youthful appearance and optimal health may be possible for a previously unknown length of lifespan. Although resveralogues are currently unavailable, there are many supplements, foods and beverages that contain the important anti-aging compound resveratrol.

Osteoporosis in Men: A Serious Yet Often Overlooked Disease

Nov 01 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Osteoporosis is a disease where the density of your bones falls to a critical point where they are so weak that even mild physical impact can fracture them. Some people do not experience any symptoms of osteoporosis until they break a bone in a situation that would not have harmed them when they were younger. Osteoporosis is considered an age-related disease; osteoporosis is most common in women over the age of 50 and men over the age of 60.

Osteoporosis: Not Just a “Woman’s Disease”

It’s a fact that osteoporosis is much more common in women. This is true for several biological reasons. The sudden drop in estrogen levels that women experience during menopause causes their bone mass to rapidly deplete. Women also have smaller bones than men to begin with, so when bone mineral density starts to drop with age, women’s bones reach that critical weakness point much more quickly.

Unfortunately, because osteoporosis is far more prevalent in women, it is often considered somewhat of a “woman’s disease,” leaving osteoporosis in men under-recognized and under-treated. Indeed, one to two million men in the United States alone have osteoporosis, with an additional eight to 13 million men suffering from low bone mass that could lead to osteoporosis in the future. Approximately 13 percent of American men over the age of 50 will suffer at least one osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime. Though this rate is not as high as that of women, men are twice as likely to die after an osteoporosis-related hip fracture than women are. Therefore, awareness of male osteoporosis is an important public health concern.

What Causes Osteoporosis in Men?

Of course, aging is the primary cause of osteoporosis. However, there are many other medical and lifestyle risk factors that can make you more likely to suffer from osteoporosis as a man. There are also some medical problems and other factors that can actually be the cause of your osteoporosis, rather than aging. The most common causes and risk factors for this disease in men include:

age-related testosterone deficiency
androgen deprivation therapy
corticosteroid use
excessive alcohol use
low body weight
low calcium levels
low vitamin D levels
physical inactivity
previous bone fractures
small body frame
spinal cord injury
tobacco use

One of the strongest risk factors for osteoporosis is heredity. If your father had low bone mineral density or osteoporosis, you are four times as likely to also eventually develop it. If both your mother and your father had it, you are almost eight times as likely to develop it with age.

There are also several less-common risk factors and causes of osteoporosis in males:

anti-epileptic drugs
chronic kidney disease
chronic liver disease
Cushing syndrome
eating disorders
HIV
hypercalciuria
hyperparathyroidism
malabsorption (e.g. that caused by celiac disease)
mastocytosis
multiple myeloma
organ transplantation
osteogenesis imperfecta
rheumatoid arthritis
Type 1 or 2 diabetes

Treatment and Prevention

Osteoporosis can be prevented by making efforts to preserve your bone mineral density as you get older. It is especially helpful to achieve optimum bone strength before the age of 30, if possible.

Proper calcium and vitamin D intake are crucial for healthy bones. Men older than 50 years of age should get at least 1,200 milligrams of calcium daily. As for vitamin D, men over the age of 50 should get at least 400 IU daily, and men over the age of 70 need 600 IU. However, experts recommend that for the purposes of preventing osteoporosis, you should consume at least 800 IU of vitamin D daily. Getting enough calcium and vitamin D has been proven to reduce the risk of fractures by 12 percent.

Other nutrients that can help reduce your risk of osteoporosis are magnesium and vitamin K. Arguably, it is a good idea to take a daily supplement that contains all of these nutrients. However, even if you take a supplement you should also eat a diet designed for bone health. Important foods to eat include fortified dairy, all manner of vegetables, egg yolk, nuts, seeds, whole grains, fatty fish and mushrooms. Getting plenty of fiber is also important, as research shows that dietary fiber can help increase calcium absorption. This is likely because fiber causes food to be digested more slowly, giving your body more time to absorb the calcium.

To improve bone strength, you must also adjust your lifestyle if necessary. Abstain from tobacco, limit alcohol to two drinks per day, and engage in weight-bearing exercises at least twice a week.

All men over the age of 70 should receive regular osteoporosis tests, just to make sure. If you have any of the risk factors or medical problems described earlier, routine testing should start at the age of 50.

They say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. However, for men who have already been diagnosed with osteoporosis, medical intervention is in order. A class of medication known as bisphosphonates is the principal treatment; these can be administered orally or intravenously. Furthermore, any medical conditions that could be causing or contributing to a man’s low bone mass should be addressed. For example, a man who has developed osteoporosis due to sex hormone deficiency should investigate the possibility of testosterone therapy.

Gut Health and Healthy Aging Intrinsically Linked

Oct 20 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

One of the largest human microbiota studies ever conducted has found a strong correlation between gut health and healthy aging. According to the study, people who live to 100 have unique gut microbiome ecosystems similar to those found in healthy 30-year-olds. This study is just the latest in a growing body of research into the myriad of beneficial effects of good gut health.

Gut Health and Healthy Aging: What’s the Link?

According to a new study published in the journal mSphere, gut health may be more important than ever suspected. The study was conducted by researchers at Ontario’s Lawson Health Research Institute of Western University in collaboration with researchers at the Tianyi Health Science Institute in China.

Researchers analyzed gut microbiota of about 1,000 extremely healthy people between ages three and 100. All participants were selected based on extreme health, which was defined as being free of reported disease, including in family members. No participants smoked, drank alcohol, reported moodiness or had been prescribed antibiotics or drugs in the last three months. All participants reported no family history of gastrointestinal, cardiometabolic or neurological disease.

16S Ribosomal RNA sequencing was used to analyze the specific microbial composition of the guts of study participants. The study discovered several important findings: Extremely healthy seniors were found to have a microbial composition similar to people who were much younger. There were major differences found in gut microbiota only before the age of 20. Between the ages of 30 and 100, microbiota remained mostly the same. Overall, the composition of gut bacteria seems more variable in men than in women. According to the study authors, the findings suggest the gut bacteria of healthy aged people differ very little from that of younger people who are in very good health.

While researchers hope this type of research can lead to new microbiome diagnostic systems and use probiotics and diet to improve health biomarkers, they still do not understand causality. Researchers do not know if healthy aging is predicated by gut bacteria or if eating well and exercising leads to improved gut bacteria and health.

Gut Bacteria Influences Many Areas of Health

Over the last few years, researchers have found other ways in which gut bacteria can influence health, mood and even behavior. Some of the most surprising studies found that gut bacteria can influence diet. Two separate studies analyzed the impact of gut bacteria on diet and reproductive success in fruit flies. One study found that bacteria in the guts of flies had an effect on their foraging habits and the influence could be passed down to future generations. The researchers found the flies do not forage only for nutrients to balance their diet but also to encourage healthy cultures of gut bacteria. The second study found that gut bacteria influences the investment fruit flies make in reproduction, their reproductive success and even the body mass of offspring.

Researchers believe they are only scratching the surface of the roles gut bacteria play in human health. What is known is microorganisms in the gut, dubbed the “microbiome,” affect physiological traits. Stress, the gastrointestinal system and the immune system are all known to interact with each other. In fact, psychological stress even causes an almost immediate change in gut bacteria populations. Some bacteria also influence how stress affects the immune system.

Stress, due to its effect on bacteria in the gut and the immune system, can even change brain function. Researchers have found that gut bacteria can affect depression, stress, memory and anxiety in some people. Gut bacteria can even communicate and produce the same neurochemicals used by the brain to transmit information. These neurochemicals produced by gut bacteria include GABA, serotonin and dopamine, which regulate mood.

How to Maintain Healthy Gut Bacteria

There are nearly 40 trillion bacteria in the human body, most of them in the intestines. This growing body of research shows the importance of maintaining healthy gut bacteria. In general, a diverse microbiota is considered healthy as the more species of bacteria in the gut, the greater the number of potential health benefits they can contribute.

There are many ways to influence the types of bacteria in your gut and foster the growth of beneficial bacteria. The best way is eating a diet rich in beans, fruit, legumes, vegetables and fermented foods like kefir, kimchi and yogurt. Fermented foods are usually high in lactobacilli, a form of bacteria with health benefits. People who consume a lot of yogurt tend to have more lactobacilli in their intestines and fewer Enterobacteriaceae, which is associated with chronic diseases and inflammation.

Focus on a diverse diet with many different types of foods. A Western diet is not diverse and high in sugar and fat. It’s estimated that three-quarters of the world’s food supply comes from just 12 species of plants and five species of animals. Some studies have indicated that gut microbiota is more diverse in rural areas of South America and Africa than the US and Europe as rural regions usually have a diverse diet.

Artificial sweetener should be avoided because it has been found to negatively impact gut bacteria. Saccharin, in particular, has been found to significantly influence the balance of bacteria in humans. Finally, taking a high-quality prebiotic/probiotic formula can help maintain a healthy balance of gut microflora and promote overall good health.