Toward an improved definition of a healthy microbiome for healthy aging.

ABSTRACT: The gut microbiome is a modifier of disease risk because it interacts with nutrition, metabolism, immunity and infection. Aging-related health loss has been correlated with transition to different microbiome states. Microbiome summary indices including alpha diversity are apparently useful to describe these states but belie taxonomic differences that determine biological importance. We analyzed 21,000 fecal microbiomes from seven data repositories, across five continents spanning participant ages 18-107 years, revealing that microbiome diversity and uniqueness correlate with aging, but not healthy aging. Among summary statistics tested, only Kendall uniqueness accurately reflects loss of the core microbiome and the abundance and ranking of disease-associated and health-associated taxa. Inc

SUBMITTER: Ghosh TS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10154212 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature