(Nick Lavars/ New Atlas) — Research into the relationship between the brain and the bacteria in our bellies is uncovering links to an increasing number of neurological conditions, with Alzheimer’s among them.
A new study is throwing further weight behind the theory that an imbalance in the gut microbiome may be related to the onset of the disease, showing how shifts in bacterial diversity are associated with inflammation and heightened numbers of amyloid plaques in the brain, one of the hallmarks of the condition.
The community of bacteria that lives in our gut has become the focus of much medical research of late, with scientists uncovering evidence that it can play a role in depression, autism, multiple sclerosis and heart disease, to name just a few examples.
Likewise, connections have begun to emerge between the gut microbiome and Alzheimer’s disease, with one 2017 study revealing decreases in microbiome diversity among those diagnosed with the condition.
Last year, Chinese authorities even approved a novel drug designed to treat the disease by modulating a person’s gut microbiome that became the first Alzheimer’s drug to reach the market in almost 20 years. (…)