Research reveals that gut bacteria resemble not only family members but also friends and people with close social connections
In recent years, it has become clear that human intestinal bacteria are deeply related to health, and various studies on intestinal bacteria are being conducted. A survey of people in isolated villages in
Gut microbiome strain-sharing within isolated village social networks | Nature
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08222-1
The People in Your Life Are Sharing Their Gut Microbes With You : ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/the-people-in-your-life-are-sharing-their-gut-microbes-with-you
A US research team led by Yale University used data from a large-scale medical project launched in Honduras in 2013 to study the gut microbiome of people living in isolated villages. Participants in the project collected their own stool samples, which were then transported to the US for analysis by a local team.
The project was carried out in collaboration with public health agencies and local leaders, and aimed to provide diagnostic and treatment tailored to the needs of the subjects. The project involved 176 villages, but this time the study focused on 18 particularly isolated villages in the highlands of western Honduras.
'We needed to study isolated populations, where social ties were limited to within the community, so these isolated villages were chosen,' said study co-author Nicholas Christakis , a sociologist and physician at Yale University.
A total of 1,787 adult subjects were surveyed to determine who they were most connected to in their communities, creating a social network map of their social connections, which was then analysed in conjunction with the patterns of microbes living in each subject's gut.
The analysis revealed that gut microbiota types and strains are shared not only among family members living together, but also among social connections with others such as close friends. Furthermore, people in the social center, who have more social connections within their community, had gut microbiota that were more similar to the community as a whole than people on the periphery of the community.
Moreover, the similarities in gut microbiota have been found to strengthen over time: Among 301 people whose gut microbiota was examined again two years after the initial study, those with stronger face-to-face connections were found to have more similar gut microbiota lineages.
'People who are physically, or socially, isolated have different microbes than people who are sociable,' Christakis said of the results of this study. At the time of writing, it is unclear whether having a similar gut flora to the people around you is an advantage or a disadvantage.
'For example, when someone takes antibiotics, their gut becomes depleted of healthy microbes, so it needs to be recolonized with healthy, normal microbes. This recolonization often happens through social interactions,' Christakis said.
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