Professor Greg Gloor, the lead author of one of the most extensive microbiome studies ever conducted in humans, stated, “The main conclusion from our study is that if you are ridiculously healthy and ninety years old, your gut microbiota is not that different from that of a healthy 30-year-old in the same population.”

To conduct this study, the researchers studied samples of gut bacteria from over 1,000 Chinese individuals aged 3 to over 100. All subjects selected for this study were deemed highly healthy with no known health issues or family history of a disease. Subjects under 30 were included if their parents and grandparents lived for at least 80 years without significant health problems that required surgery or long-term medication. The study’s results revealed a strong direct correlation between health and the microbes in the intestine.

The study was published in the Oct 11, 2017, issue of mSphere, an open-access journal published by the American Society for Microbiology. It revealed that the overall bacterial composition of healthy elderly individuals was similar to that of people decades younger and that the gut microbiome differed little in individuals aged 30 and over 100.

The authors stated that whether these outcomes are a cause or effect (does healthy microbiota cause good health, or does being healthy positively affect the microbiota) is still unknown, but they emphasize that the diversity of intestinal bacteria remained the same throughout their study group. In concluding remarks, Dr. Gloor said, “This demonstrates that maintaining the diversity of your gut as you age is a biomarker of healthy aging, just like low cholesterol is a biomarker of a healthy circulatory system.”

The China-Canada Institute conducted the study in collaboration with the University of Western Ontario and Tianyi Health Science Institute in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China.

Reference:  Bian G, Gloor GB, et al. The Gut Microbiota of Healthy Aged Chinese Is Similar to That of the Healthy Young. mSphere, 2017; 2 (5): e00327-17.