A large Mayo Clinic cohort study found distinct gut bacteria patterns across five cancer types, plus signatures unique to early-onset colorectal and breast cancers, and a bacterium linked to fewer chemotherapy side effects.
A new Nature Biotechnology study mapped which genes skin microbes actually express (metatranscriptomics) across five body sites in 27 healthy adults, and found that Cutibacterium acnes, the most DNA-abundant skin bacterium, is far from the most metabolically active. Instead, Staphylococcus bacteria and Malassezia fungi — including species tied to dandruff and eczema — punch well above their genomic weight, with activity patterns that shift by body site. The finding suggests microbiome tests based on DNA counts alone may be measuring the wrong thing, though the study was limited to healthy skin and stops short of any diagnostic or treatment claim.
A rigorously controlled human trial has found that bisphenol A, the chemical in thousands of everyday plastics, directly reduces the body's ability to respond to insulin. If you've been wondering whether your environment could be quietly undermining your metabolic health, this study offers some of the most direct human evidence yet.
A prospective study of 429 infants found that the bacteria and fungi on their skin differed depending on whether their eczema occurred alone or alongside food allergy or food sensitization -- with some of those differences detectable as early as 2 to 3 months, months before any diagnosis. The findings point toward skin microbiome profiling as a future tool for early allergy risk stratification, though the authors stress this is an observational finding, not a validated clinical test.
A controlled study in APP/PS1 Alzheimer's model mice finds that six months of a high-salt diet worsens amyloid plaques, neuron loss, and brain inflammation alongside a disrupted gut microbiome, a mouse finding not yet tested in humans.
A Stanford-led study of 59 heart failure patients and 50 healthy adults found that a depleted gut bacterium, Bifidobacterium, and a metabolite it produces, indole-3-propionic acid (IPA), tracked with milder disease and real clinical improvement over time. The bacteria produced the metabolite directly in lab tests, but the human findings remain observational.
A new randomized trial matched three popular weight-loss diets for the same 10% weight loss, then looked at what changed in the liver and bloodstream. The diets were not equal: a ketogenic diet cut liver fat by 67% and reversed prediabetes in half of participants, far more than a Mediterranean or plant-based diet.
A 2026 review in Biomolecules maps five years of evidence on why bloating happens, proposing that environmental exposures like microplastics and air pollution may be lowering the gut's threshold for symptoms in ways diet alone cannot explain.
Regular moderate exercise protects the gut lining through five proven molecular mechanisms. A 2026 review explains the J-shaped dose-response curve, the microbiome changes that matter most, and what this means for people with IBD, IBS, and metabolic liver disease.
A new mouse study finds that binge and chronic alcohol exposure triggers a gut bacteria signal that helps drive dysfunction in the abdominal aorta and its surrounding fat tissue, offering a specific mechanistic link between heavy drinking and cardiovascular disease.
