Scientists are just starting to uncover the countless ways in which the gut’s microbiome is crucial to individual health and wellbeing. More and more people are awakening to the fact that maintaining a “healthy gut,” full of trillions of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microscopic living things, is essential to the body’s functioning.
The growing amount of research in recent years on the human microbiome demonstrates that gut microbes, which have been found to interact with nearly all human cells, play a key role in metabolism, immunity, and other key bodily functions. Changes in gut microbes have been linked to obesity, liver disease, diabetes, cancer and neurological conditions that damage brain tissue, per Medical News Today.
Now, new research supports the idea that gut microbes have a role in regulating muscle mass and function. Scientists at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore led a study published in Science Translational Medicine, which compared strength and movement in mice as they performed activities in a lab. One group of mice had no microbes, or were “germ-free,” and the other group had normal, “healthy” gut microbes.
“Researchers found that the mice without the gut microbes had weaker skeletal muscles and produced less energy than the mice with gut microbes,” per Medical News Today. “In addition, the team found that transplanting gut microbes from normal mice into germ-free mice increased muscle mass and strength in the latter. This intervention also led to partial restoration of muscle growth and function in the previously germ-free mice.”
“These results,” said senior study author Sven Pettersson, a professor in the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine at NTU, “further strengthen the growing evidence of gut microbes acting as crucial gatekeepers to human health, and provide new insight into muscle mass maintenance with respect to aging.”
Another study compared the gut microbiome in 18 adults with high-physical functioning and favorable body composition, and 11 with low physical functioning and less favorable body composition. The findings showed that the bacterial profiles of the two groups were significantly different. Researchers then inoculated mice with the bacteria from both groups of humans. They found that the mice with bacteria from the adults with “favorable body composition” had more grip strength than when compared to LF-colonized mice.
These studies support the notion that bacteria plays a role in maintaining muscle strength, especially as we age.
You might be asking yourself, how do I maintain a healthy gut microbe? To support the general health of the gut microbiome, you should consume foods high in prebiotic fiber, and consider taking a probiotic supplement. Other steps to improve gut health include getting good sleep, drinking water, eating slowly, engaging stress-reducing activities, and shifting your diet towards plant-based.
Read more on Healthline about signs of an unhealthy gut and ways to improve your gut health.
