Diverse healthy Gut Microbiota linked to improved cognitive function
Several animal experiments and small clinical studies support a role for the gut microbiota in cognitive functioning. To add further value, a recent study suggests that a healthy, diverse gut microbiome is associated with better cognitive function in middle age. The study findings were published in the JAMA Network Open on February 08, 2022.
Small-scale human studies have shown associations between microbial features and cognition or found significant improvements when comparing controls with persons who have been treated with probiotics to increase commensal microbiota. However, only a few community-based studies have been conducted with large and diverse populations. Therefore, Dr Katie Meyer and her team conducted a study to examine associations of gut microbial composition with measures of cognition in an established population-based study of middle-aged adults.
In this cross-sectional study, the researchers analyzed data from the prospective Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) cohort in 4 US metropolitan centers between 2015 and 2016. During that examination, participants took a battery of cognitive assessments and 615 also provided a stool sample for a microbiome substudy; of these, 597 had both stool DNA available for sequencing and a complete complement of cognitive tests. The researchers assessed the cognitive status using 6 clinic-administered cognitive tests: Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), Rey-Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), Stroop, category fluency, and letter fluency. They conducted three standard microbial analyses: within-person alpha-diversity between-person beta-diversity and individual taxa. They further assessed the global score measure derived using principal components analysis.
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