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Maria Branyas, then age four, sitting on a wooden fence with her family in 1911 in New Orleans. (Credit: Arxiu de la família Branyas Morera - Own work, Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons) ================================================================ Study suggests Maria Branyas Morera’s daily yogurt habit could have shaped her tremendously healthy gut microbiome ========================================================================= In A Nutshell * Maria Branyas Morera lived to 117, yet DNA methylation tests showed her cells acting about 23 years younger than her chronological age. * Her daily yogurt habit coincided with unusually high levels of Bifidobacterium, a gut microbe common in younger people, and extremely low inflammation...

Urolithin A, a metabolite of ellagitannins in pomegranates, boosts immune cells’ ability to combat tumors by inducing a process known as mitophagy. STORY AT-A-GLANCE Urolithin A (UA) has emerged as a powerhouse player in the fight against cancer, as it may naturally boost tumor-fighting immune cells. UA is a metabolite of ellagitannins in pomegranates that has anti-inflammatory and anticancer effects. UA “recycles and renews mitochondria” by inducing a biological pathway known as mitophagy—the process of cleaning out your mitochondria, allowing them to function at their best. This changes T cells’ genetic program, making them more able to fight tumors. In...

SNIP Emerging science shows that a human’s microbiome – their constellation of gut microbes – has a far greater effect on health than anyone previously imagined. This enormous ecosystem we host in our bodies includes bacteria, fungi, viruses and more. The collective genetic material in the microbiome performs myriad functions that affect our mood, our immunity, and our physical and mental health. Crappy western diets and antibiotics are depleting our microbiota. And in some cases, a person’s microbiome is disordered enough that it needs a little boost from someone else’s. “We’re showing that you can actually reimagine a food system...

New research indicates a widely used food additive, carboxymethylcellulose, alters the intestinal environment of healthy persons, perturbing levels of beneficial bacteria and nutrients. Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) is a synthetic member of a widely used class of food additives, termed emulsifiers, which are added to many processed foods to enhance texture and promote shelf life. It had long been assumed that CMC was safe to ingest because it is eliminated in the feces without being absorbed. Experiments in mice found that CMC, and some other emulsifiers, altered gut bacteria resulting in more severe disease in a range of chronic inflammatory conditions, including...

New findings from Cleveland Clinic researchers show for the first time that the gut microbiome impacts stroke severity and functional impairment following stroke. The results, published in Cell Host & Microbe, lay the groundwork for potential new interventions to help treat or prevent stroke. The research was led by Weifei Zhu, Ph.D., and Stanley Hazen, M.D., Ph.D., of Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute. The study builds on more than a decade of research spearheaded by Dr. Hazen and his team related to the gut microbiome's role in cardiovascular health and disease, including the adverse effects of TMAO (trimethylamine N-oxide)—a byproduct...

“Our work demonstrates that the gut bacterial microbiome in chronic fatigue syndrome patients isn’t normal, perhaps leading to gastrointestinal and inflammatory symptoms in victims of the disease,” said Maureen Hanson, a professor of molecular biology and genetics at Cornell. “Furthermore, our detection of a biological abnormality provides further evidence against the ridiculous concept that the disease is psychological in origin.” In a study published this month in the journal Microbiome, Cornell University researchers looked at stool and blood samples of 48 people diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (or more formally, myalgic encephalomyelitis) and at 39 healthy volunteers. They found two...