Your Gut - A Key To Ageing Brain Health
A study looking to see if taking a probiotic could improve symptoms of mild cognitive impairment, took place involving participants with a decline in cognitive behaviour.
The research showed, participants had increased cognitive scores associated with specific and measurable changes to the composition of their gut microbiome.
Your gut is the largest immune centre and endocrine organ in your body. More immune system activity with greater hormones are created in the gut than anywhere else. This is due to microbes, including viruses, bacteria, and other creatures living there.
Over the course of 3 months participants, aged 52 and 75 were given Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) in a double blinded study. Results showed their neurological markers improve, with a drop in the pervasiveness of a microbiota genus called, Prevotella.
The researchers are currently working to understand the specific mechanisms of how microbes like Prevotella influence the gut, in a way that improves brain health. Specifically, how certain molecules produced by these bacteria modulate the functionality of neuroprotective hormones that can cross the blood-brain barrier.
This adds a new layer to our understanding of the microbiome brain-gut connection and opens up new avenues for combating cognitive decline associated with ageing.” said Mashael Aljumaah – a microbiology doctoral candidate at the University of North Carolina. Adding, “Modifying the gut microbiome through probiotics could potentially be a strategy to improve cognitive performance, particularly in individuals with mild cognitive impairment.”
View more microbiome studies at the University Of North Carolina here
