🔹 Gut Microbiota and Longevity: The gut microbiota's composition significantly differs between long-lived species and their shorter-lived counterparts. In humans, centenarians tend to have a distinct gut microbiota compared to younger individuals and the elderly.
🔹 Mechanisms of Influence: Gut microbiota contributes to healthy aging by producing metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), tryptophan derivatives, and bile acids, which play crucial roles in maintaining gut barrier function, modulating immune responses, and optimizing cellular functions.
🔹 Gut Microbiota as a Therapeutic Target: Strategies such as fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from younger donors to older individuals, probiotic supplementation, and axenic cultures have shown potential in extending lifespan and improving healthspan in various model organisms.
🔹 Prevention of Age-Related Diseases: The gut microbiota helps mitigate age-related diseases like cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer through its influence on inflammation, metabolism, and immune function.
🔸 Conclusion and Perspective:
-Studies have consistently found an enrichment of certain bacteria, such as Proteobacteria and Prevotella, in centenarians.
These bacteria, typically considered opportunistic pathogens, seem to have a symbiotic relationship with their hosts, contributing to health and longevity.
Similar patterns are observed in long-lived species like bats and naked mole-rats, suggesting these animals could serve as ideal models for microbiome research.
-The importance of early life exposure to specific microbes, which may lead to a lifetime of immunological tolerance and health benefits.
Additionally, the environments where centenarians typically grow up—rural areas rich in soil, plants, and animals—might contribute to their unique gut microbiota.
-Healthy lifestyles, such as a Mediterranean diet, regular exercise, good sleep, and social integration, are linked to higher levels of beneficial short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which play a key role in promoting longevity.
Conversely, unhealthy lifestyles reduce SCFA levels, highlighting the importance of lifestyle choices in maintaining a healthy microbiota and promoting longevity.
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