So, at whatever elder hostel you may end up, ask to see the menu. Lets don't settle for geezer food.
Thriving Gut Bacteria Linked To Good
Health
by ALLISON AUBREY
08:52 pm
July 15, 2012
There's no magic elixir for healthy
aging, but here's one more thing to add
to the list: good gut health.
A study published in the latest issue of
Nature finds diet may be key to
promoting diverse communities of
beneficial bacteria in the guts of older
people.
To evaluate this, researchers analyzed
the microbiota, or gut bacteria, of 178
older folks, mostly in their 70s and
80s.
Some of the people were living in their
own homes, and their diets were rich in fiber, fruits, vegetables, grains, poultry and
fish.
Others were living in longterm care facilities or nursing homes where the typical
diet was much less varied. "
Mashed potato and porridge were the only staples in
this diet type that were consumed daily," explains Paul O'Toole of the Alimentary
Pharmabiotic Centre at University College Cork in Ireland. Meals were
supplemented with puddings, cookies and sugarsweetened beverages such as tea.
O'Toole's team found that
people living independently, who had the most diverse
diets, also had more varied gut bacteria. And they also scored better on clinical
tests measuring frailty and cognitive function. In other words, "they were healthier
older people," says O'Toole.
There may be many factors at play here, but O'Toole thinks diet is key. "We were
surprised that the correlations between microbiota and health came out so
strongly," O'Toole says.
There's an explosion of research into the gut microbiome as scientists finetune
methods to analyze bacteria in the gut, and with that comes an emerging body of
evidence that diversity of gut bacteria is important.
"What we're only now beginning to realize is that there's very close interaction
between the bacteria within GI tract and human health and disease," says Ilseung
Cho, a gastroenterologist at NYU School of Medicine.
Beneficial bacteria do a lot for us, says Cho. They help with digestion, help our
bodies make vitamins, and also likely help support a strong immune system.
But they also have to compete with the harmful bacteria. That's why we want a
variety of the good kind in our guts.
"If you have a lot of diversity and one bacteria that's doing something good is
iStockphoto.com
Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables is important for gut
health, especially in aging adults.7/23/12 Thriving Gut Bacteria Linked To Good Health : Shots ‑ Health Blog : NPR
www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/07/16/156745291/thriving‑gut‑bacteria‑linked‑to‑good‑health?ft=3&f=11… 2/2
food and nutrition immune system bacteria aging
knocked out," explains Cho, "then you may have other bacteria that can compensate
for that loss."
These new findings are not proof that diverse microbiota lead to better health. But
experts say this paper is important because it establishes a link.
"Is it really that diet is altering the health of individuals through altering the gut
microbiota?" asks Gary Wu of the University of Pennsylvania. "Or is it that people
who are not as well tend to be housed in longterm care facilities?" It's possible that
the lack of bacterial diversity isn't the cause of illness, but a sign of sickness.
Wu says it will take additional studies to unravel cause and effect. Nonetheless, he
says, this new Nature paper is intriguing.
"I think there's growing evidence that diet is very important in regulating the
composition of the gut microbes," says Wu.
