In mice bred to develop severe atherosclerosis, a traditional Chinese herbal capsule called Furong Tongmai reduced artery plaque and cholesterol, and a fecal transplant experiment suggests reshaped gut bacteria are part of why. It is early, animal-only evidence, but it maps a specific gut bacteria to inflammation to artery wall pathway worth watching.
Two sugars naturally found in breast milk, 2'-fucosyllactose and 6'-sialyllactose, tracked with a lighter load of antibiotic-resistance genes in one-month-old infants across two independent cohorts, especially after C-section birth.
Researchers screened vaginal yeast from 238 women and found more than half of the isolated Candida strains carried H. pylori's own genetic signature, some with living bacteria-like bodies moving inside.
In the first head-to-head trial of its kind, 30 children with autism spectrum disorder received either fecal microbiota transplantation or a ketogenic diet. Both groups improved on standardized symptom scales, but their gut bacteria shifted in different, treatment-specific ways, and the study's own limitations mean neither approach is ready to be called a treatment.
A newly identified polysaccharide from an edible mushroom eased inflammation in immune cells and mice by shutting down a signaling receptor and reshaping the gut microbiome, boosting bacteria like Alistipes and Bacteroides. The work is preclinical, but it maps a mechanism researchers may eventually test in people.
A two-sample Mendelian randomization study spanning genetic data from hundreds of thousands of people found four gut bacteria taxa causally linked to kidney stone risk, one raising it and three lowering it, adding genetic weight to a long-suspected gut-kidney connection.
A new mouse study found that cold-brewed hawthorn juice curbed high-fat-diet weight gain and reshaped gut bacteria, and that transplanting just the microbiome from treated mice into other obese mice reproduced the effect, a strong hint the bacteria themselves are doing the work.
A new mouse study found that sucralose and stevia altered gut bacteria, lowered protective bacterial metabolites, and shifted inflammation genes, and some of those changes turned up in generations that never consumed a sweetener.
In a tightly controlled feeding trial, swapping white bread for whole wheat cut post-meal blood sugar spikes by 27% in adults with prediabetes, and the size of the benefit tracked with which bacteria were already living in a person's gut.
A decade-spanning US study found that older adults who ate the most fiber relative to their calorie intake were substantially less likely to develop new trouble walking, climbing stairs, or bathing, even after accounting for dozens of other factors.
