A “friendly” microbe that occurs in abundance in the guts of people over 100 years old may reduce the production of a chemical that researchers have linked to cardiovascular disease.
Compared with young adults, people who live for longer than 100 years have, on average, 15 times more of the bacterium Eubacterium limosum in their gut.
The researchers who reported this discovery a decade ago speculated that the well-established anti-inflammatory properties of E. limosum may have helped these people live to extreme old age.
Now, researchers at Ohio State University in Columbus have revealed how the bacterium may reduce people’s risk of developing heart disease.
In laboratory cultures of E. limosum, they found evidence to suggest that the organism prevents the production of a chemical called trimethylamine (TMA). Previous research has linked TMA to atherosclerosis.
The study now appears in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
“Over the last decade, it has become apparent that bacteria in the human gut influence our health in many ways. The organism we studied affects health by preventing a problematic compound from becoming a worse one,” says senior study author Prof. Joseph Krzycki.
“It’s too soon to say whether this bacterium could have therapeutic value,