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Colorectal cancer (CRC) is expected to contribute to a burden of 3.2 million new cases and 1.6 million deaths by 2040. The authors open by discussing how microbes can be used to prevent CRC. Probiotics, when administered appropriately, enhance the intestinal barrier, modulate the hosts' immune response, remodel the gut microbial composition, and even induce targeted cancer cell death. The first-generation probiotics were formulations of lactic acid bacteria (LBA) from Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Bacillus, Saccharomyces, and Bifidobacterium genera. On the other hand, next-generation probiotics (NGPs) incorporate microbes such as Bacteroides fragilis, Clostridium butyricum, Akkermansia muciniphila, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. Next,...

The human gut is lined with more than 100 million nerve cells—it’s practically a brain unto itself. And indeed, the gut actually talks to the brain, releasing hormones into the bloodstream that, over the course of about 10 minutes, tell us how hungry it is, or that we shouldn’t have eaten an entire pizza. But a new study reveals the gut has a much more direct connection to the brain through a neural circuit that allows it to transmit signals in mere seconds. The findings could lead to new treatments for obesity, eating disorders, and even depression and autism—all of...