Cytoplasmic extracts from three yogurt-derived Lactobacillus strains reduced colorectal cancer cell viability in a dish, with one strain, L. fermentum AGR1487, the most potent.
A case-control study of 617 Chinese older adults found gut microbiome signatures that distinguish hyperuricemia cases from controls and track with poor sleep. Based on the study's published abstract; the full text was not obtained.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 21 randomized trials in children and adolescents finds that microbiome-targeted interventions like diet, probiotics, prebiotics and fecal transplants produced small reductions in BMI z-score and inflammation, but most other cardiometabolic markers did not budge.
A new study from Sweden's SCAPIS cohort - the largest shotgun metagenomic analysis of its kind - links higher daily sodium excretion to 75 gut bacterial shifts, including loss of Akkermansia and a rise in oral-associated bacteria previously tied to heart disease.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 10 randomized controlled trials found that probiotic supplementation significantly reduced C-reactive protein (CRP) by 0.74 mg/L and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in patients with depression. No significant effects were found for IL-6 or IL-10, and the pooled sample of 486 participants limits confidence in identifying optimal protocols.
A new in vitro study tested fucoidans from three brown seaweed species in a simulated colonic fermentation model and found dramatically different prebiotic effects. Fucoidan from Undaria pinnatifida (wakame) showed 33.17% fermentability - more than four times the 7.05% seen with Laminaria japonica (kelp) - while Ascophyllum nodosum showed no significant change. The bacterial and metabolite profiles differed too: each species produced a distinct fingerprint, with Undaria driving valerate and other metabolites while Laminaria preferentially enriched Lactobacillus.
A 57-patient study finds the gut bacterium Blautia and inflammation marker CRP track with suicidal ideation in depression, but the link disappears once overall depression severity is accounted for.
A mouse study traces colorectal cancer protection from a licorice flavonoid all the way to a single gut-bacteria-controlled enzyme, IDO1, using fecal transplants and gene knockouts to confirm each step of the mechanism. The work is preclinical and animal-only, but it offers one of the clearest mechanistic pictures yet of how gut bacteria might influence colon cancer risk.
Captive giant pandas that pace, rock, or toss their heads repeatedly have measurably different gut bacteria than pandas that don't, including a newly discovered Serratia species and genes tied to the brain chemical GABA, a PLOS ONE study finds. The correlational findings come from just 15 pandas at one breeding center.
The "sauerkraut diet" is trending online as a weight-loss hack. A new scientific review of fermented foods and obesity finds real biological mechanisms, but mostly animal evidence, and no human trial that actually tests eating sauerkraut for weight loss.
