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Spice Up Your Microbial Health
Among the many herbs and spices used to foster gut health is oregano. Derived from the Greek words “oros” (meaning mountain) and “ganos” (meaning joy), oregano was supposedly grown by the Greek goddess Aphrodite as a symbol of joy. Most known for its aromatic use in culinary dishes, oregano also has a history of medicinal…
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Microbiome & COVID-19
In Genome Medicine, Harvard researchers recently published their analysis of metagenomic profiling of the gastrointestinal microbiome of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 during the first year of the pandemic. Between April 2020 and May 2021, 127 consecutive hospitalized adult patients with confirmed COVID-19 (at Massachusetts General Hospital) were categorized as having either severe or moderate disease,…
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Exercise Your Guts Out
Exercise is good for us, yes? With its wide-range of benefits that include supporting heart, muscle and bone health, the short answer is yes. But could there be repercussions in over-exercising? For some people, yes; intense exercise can lead to leaky gut. In the literature, it is referred to as “exercise-induced gut permeability,” and the…
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Impact of Diet on Baby’s Microbiome
Whether you’re a would-be parent or your newborn is already safely in your arms, the joy and wonder of having a new member in your family can be truly exhilarating. But what most parents may not take the time to think about is the impact a baby’s diet has on their microbiome. The importance of…
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Breast Health & the Gut Microbiome
A growing body of evidence points to the intestinal microbiome as an important factor in both the initiation and metastasis of breast cancer. Data from a recent animal study published in Cancer Immunology Research supports the link between increased metastasis and gut dysbiosis, and suggests a novel mechanism for this link, specifically an accumulation as…
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Environmental Pollutants & the Microbiome
In a recently published Frontiers in Medicine review, the bidirectional interactions between environmental toxicants and the gut microbiota were examined, highlighting the complex relationship between the composition of the microbiota and xenobiotic metabolism. Given that for most people the greatest source of exposure to pollutants is via diet and water consumption, the gut microbiota is…
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UTIs, Antibiotics & Gut Microbiome
In a study recently published in Nature Microbiology, a longitudinal multi-omics analysis was reported for women with a history of recurrent UTIs (n=15) compared to healthy controls (n=16). In this one-year study, all participants provided monthly fecal samples (fecal, urine, and plasma samples were collected at study onset), with additional samples collected during and after…
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Oral Microbiome Linked to Hypertension
The results of a prospective epidemiological analysis of the OsteoPerio (Osteoporosis and Periodontal Disease) study were recently reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association. In a fairly large cohort of over 1200 postmenopausal women (aged 53 to 81 at the outset of the study), the composition of the microbiome in the subgingival plaque…
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The Importance of the Gut Microbiome During Pregnancy
As more data emerges supporting the importance of the gut microbiome during pregnancy, the link between changes in the microbiota during pregnancy and impaired metabolism and GI function also continues to grow. A recent small trial adds to this knowledge base; 32 participants were given a probiotic containing multiple strains of Lactobacillus as well as…
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Yet Another Link Between Microbiome and Mood
A recent review has brought greater insight into the complex relationship between the gut microbiome and mood.