People often talk about healthy intestinal flora, but until now it is not clear what exactly is meant by this. Thanks to large-scale research, researchers at the UMCG have now been able to properly determine the composition of a healthy microbiome. They were able to determine this after they thoroughly analyzed the composition of the microbiome of more than 8200 Lifelines participants. The findings have been published in the scientific magazine Nature.
The researchers were not only able to compile a catalog of the microbiome, but also identify which bacteria in the microbiome are involved in disease and which are involved in health; this has great value for follow-up research and medical applications. It also appeared that not only a person’s current living conditions, but also circumstances from the past, such as the living environment in childhood, influence the composition of the microbiome. And that living together in a household ensures that the microbiome of the persons concerned has largely the same composition.
The researchers checked the precise composition and function of their microbiome by completely analyzing the DNA of all microorganisms present. This involved more than 8,200 participants from 2,756 families. Lifelines involves participants in good health as well as participants with a variety of illnesses. Because all these participants collected and frozen their stools, and the stools were collected from their homes to be stored at a temperature of -80 degrees, the researchers were able to analyze the composition very precisely.
For each participant, the researchers analyzed 241 clinical factors that influence the composition of the microbiome. These include various factors such as physical and mental health, medication use, diet, socio-economic factors, childhood living conditions and their current household. The research shows that many diseases are influenced by the composition of the microbiome. There are specific groups of bacteria in the microbiome that are associated with many different diseases, regardless of the precise clinical picture. The reverse also turned out to be the case. There are also bacteria in the microbiome that are associated with better health.
The researchers also looked at which factors influence the composition of the microbiome. In addition to known factors such as diet, medication use and illness, other factors also appear to have an effect. For example, the microbiome appears to be healthier if someone lives in a greener and less polluted environment, and there is less particulate matter in the air. They have also established that the living conditions of the parents of the person concerned also have an influence. For example, if someone has parents who smoke or grew up in a rural environment, that also affects his or her microbiome.
Heredity does not appear to be the single largest determinant of the composition of the microbiome. The research has shown that the influence of a person’s lifestyle and environment is greater. When people belong to the same household, the composition of their microbiome is much more similar. Once they stop living together, the overlap between their microbiomes becomes smaller and smaller as time passes.
More information can be found in the publication ‘Environmental factors shaping the gut microbiome in a Dutch population‘ in Nature.
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