Gut Diversity vs Aging

…and other items from this week’s health news:

How A Diverse Gut Microbiome Can Make You Younger

It’s well-known (to regular 10almonds readers, at the very least) that gut microbiome diversity is broadly a very good thing for health. What’s good for the gut is good for the heart, and what’s good for the heart is good for the brain, and also the gut is in many ways a hugely influential factor in our immune system, which includes not just when it comes to fighting pathogens, but also when it comes to healthy immune regulation, i.e. against immune dysfunction and chronic inflammation, which latter is bad for pretty much everything.

However, a new study has found a link between gut health and aging; specifically, that the aging microbiome produces fewer metabolites that are needed for good health, resulting in a compounding effect of aging.

Most interestingly, however, this relation has found to be causal the other way around, that is to say, it’s not just “when older, the gut doesn’t work so well”, but rather, “when given a better gut microbiome, effects of aging are reversed”.

Caveat: this was a mouse study and it wasn’t all aspects of aging, but it was enough aspects of aging to be very worthy of note, and there’s no reason the same principles shouldn’t apply in humans:

Read in full: Metabolic modeling reveals aging microbiome produces fewer vital substances

Related: Stop Sabotaging Your Gut

Maybe you can drink some calories, after all (if you do this with them)

“Don’t drink your calories” is generally good advice; liquids are typically absorbed much more quickly than solids (increasing total caloric consumption, as well as the initial shock to the metabolism), and most sugary drinks (which absolutely includes pure fruit juice, by the way, as it has been stripped of fiber in the juicing process) produce an impressive spike in blood sugars, and thus insulin levels (both are bad things to spike).

However, smoothies do better than juices, due to still having fiber in them. And, research has found, smoothies with seeds in flatten the blood sugar curve even more, likely due to the combination of fiber and fats:

Read in full: Smoothies with seeds may improve glycemic control, study shows

Related: 3 Day Juice Fasting? Not So Fast! ← why you should absolutely not expect the same results from juices

Where there’s smoke, there’s… An increase in mental health conditions?

Wildfires have been raging in some parts of the US lately, and needless to say, these aren’t great for the health. As well as the initial most obvious risks, there are a lot of follow-up risks (including weakened immune systems as well as increased presence of pathogens in the air; people think of smoke as purifying, but it’s not, it’s mostly just hot air bringing germs with it), and, by the numbers, a large increase in hospital visits for mental health conditions including depression, anxiety, and mood disorders:

Read in full: Exposure to wildfire smoke linked to worsening mental health conditions

Related: The Dangers Of Fires, Floods, & Having Your Hair Washed

Take care!