Now, the latest research is painting an even clearer picture of why the microbiome is essential to overall health, this time highlighting the heart and cardiovascular system. The study looked at 1,400 participants and their metabolites and microbial genomes as part of the Framingham Heart Study, a decades-long research effort designed to nail down the risk factors that play into the decline of cardiovascular health.
Medical experts found that one bacteria species,
Oscillibacter
, plays for the good guys. The bacteria stroll through your gut, absorbing cholesterol to metabolize it from the stomach. When they complete their task, that extra cholesterol is robbed of the harmful chance to find a new place within the body to call home, lowering the risk of cholesterol build-up and heart disease.
Practical health interventions using the microbiome
Fixing the imbalance of gut bacteria to help improve health parameters isn’t new. Probiotics, for example, have been a long-standing addition to health plans for many people to help keep levels of good bacteria up where they need to be.
Typically, conditions that affect the gastrointestinal tract and metabolic diseases have been the star of the microbiome research show because it’s hard to ignore the connection between what goes on in the gut and overall gut health.
However, the microbiome has also been utilized to improve health outcomes by encouraging diversity among gut species. For example,
have found that people who develop cancer have better responses to chemotherapies, radiation, and immunotherapies due to improved gut diversity.
