How do you feel about the concept of living to 100 or more? For me, that fills me with absolute horror, but if you want to live for as long as possible, you might be happy to know that the secret to living into old age healthily has potentially been found.
New research from the University of Copenhagen has revealed that the answer could be hiding in our guts. More specifically, our gut bacteria.
Scientists at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center [sic] for Protein Research studied 176 healthy Japanese centenarians and learned that the combination of intestinal bacteria and bacterial viruses of the people studied is “quite unique.”
So, what makes their gut bacteria different from everyone else’s? The researchers say that they produce brand-new molecules that make them more resistant to pathogenic, disease-promoting, microorganisms.
“If their intestines are better protected against infection, that is probably one of the things that cause them to live longer than others,” says Postdoc Joachim Johansen, one of the authors of the new study.
The researchers say that the diversity of the different microbes in the older Japanese people studied is a major part of why they’re ageing so well.
Johansen says that higher microbial diversity is associated with a healthy gut microbiome, and “we expect people with a healthy gut microbiome to be better protected against ageing-related diseases.”
Interestingly, the research team were able to map the healthy, disease-fighting bacteria and can now use the findings to help foster better bacteria in others.
Professor Simon Rasmussen says, “The crazy thing is that we can actually change the composition of intestinal bacteria.”
How to get better gut bacteria
- Eating a diverse range of foods is said to help promote a better balance of gut microbes. This is because the more species of microbes you have, the more health benefits they can provide to the body.
- Eating more fibre. There are certain strains of gut bacteria that digest fibre, which helps to stimulate their growth, and one study found that a diet rich in fruit and veg can prevent the growth of disease-causing bacteria.
- Pack in prebiotics. We’ve all heard of probiotics, but prebiotics – found in fruits, veg and whole grains – can promote the growth of several different types of bacteria.