THE BIOME BUZZ
BUGS AND WORMS AND OTHER GREAT STUFF
Category: Probiotics
Stressed? Depressed? Theres a Psychobiotic for That
Yesterday morning a story made its way through the British press about a probiotic, newly available commercially, which, in a 2016 clinical trial, successfully alleviated stress, increased feelings of happiness and boosted memory. The probiotic, Zenflore, is being called the first commercially available “psychobiotic”: …
L.reuteri and Immune Tolerance
A few days ago, a fun article[i] appeared on Gut Microbiota for Health which listed their most popular articles in 2018. Contrary me: I looked through all 10 and found that the last one on the list was way the most interesting. In your…
2018: My Top 10 List of Favorite Stories!
My longer-time readers know that, as we close out another year, I like to take a look back at some of my favorite research stories from these past 12 months. So here it is…Judy’s “the best of 2018” top 10 list, in chronological order:…
Scientists Weigh in on the Recent Anti-Probiotic Hype
Remember back in September, I was ranting about two “anti-probiotic” studies and the insane conclusions people were drawing based upon them? Well, a few days ago, I came across an article[i] on this very topic, on the Gut Microbiota for Health website, that is worth…
Pre/Neonatal Probiotics and the Avoidance of Eczema and Allergies
Yet another article[i] was just published showing that dealing with inflammation issues while a baby is still in the womb can make a huge difference on the risk of atopic (allergic) illnesses. In this case, researchers in New Zealand gave 474 pregnant (starting at…
The Prophylactic Use of Probiotics (to Combat Microbiome Alterations Due to C-section and Early Life Antibiotic Use)
The article I read yesterday was a natural follow-on from my last post, about autism and its relationship to perturbations in the gut microbiome. This one was about a double-blind, placebo-controlled study using probiotics to restore normal gut microbiota in infants who were either…
Autism and the Microbiome: A Summary of What We Know Now
Two days ago, I spotted a short commentary[i] in the journal, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, from this past August, which really caught my attention. Here is why: it was written by 3 researchers in the department of neurology at Rutgers University’s medical school…
Senescence, Aging…and the Microbiome: Part 2
As I promised last Thursday, I’ll finish talking about the article[i] on aging, the microbiome, and senescence today. A quick summary of my last post: the evidence currently available points to a depletion of the microbiota as we age (from diet (for example, older…
Treating Leaky Gut: Reduce Inflammation First?
Back to leaky gut, briefly… For those of you unfamiliar with the term epithelial cells, this is a single layer of cells that line the inside of the intestinal tract and provide a selectively permeable barrier. That is, healthy cells are tightly packed together,…
More on Boosting Levels of Short-Chain Fatty Acids
While I’m on the subject of butyrate… An article[i] was published in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics that caught my attention. Researchers tested the efficacy of a probiotic (one I had never heard of) called, Symprove . One of the big issues often raised about…
Staying Young, Healthy and Chock Full of Akkermansia
You know how whenever you learn a new word, for example, suddenly it appears everywhere? I have been having that experience of late with all kinds of tie-ins to recent posts. Coincidences or…is it just that the Biome Buzz is so trending that I’m…
Stress and Our Missing Old Friends
Yesterday I devoted several hours to reading a fascinating article on the connection between stress and the microbiome.[i] The conclusion: the lack of exposure to our “old friends” (those commensal organisms with which humans co-evolved) has caused immune dysregulation, leading to a greater susceptibility…
