The saying goes, you are what you eat. Science-backed researches reveal now that humans are what the bacteria existing in our intestinal tract eat. And this could have an impact on how well we age. Based on this, scientists from McGill University nourished flies in fruit with Triphala, a mixture of probiotics and an herbal supplement. It was able to prolong the flies’ lifespan by 60 %. It could also protect them against chronic diseases associated with aging.
McGill University Study
The study that was published in Scientific Reports is an addition to an increasing body of evidence of the impact that gut bacteria can have on man’s health. A symbiotic made of probiotics was integrated by the researchers with a supplement rich in polyphenol into the diet of fruit flies.
The flies that consumed the synbiotic lived up to 66 days old. It was 26 days more than the flies that were not fed with the supplement. The study also revealed reduced traits of aging including inflammation, increasing insulin resistance, and oxidative stress.
The professor of biomedical engineering in McGill’s Faculty of Medicine, Satya Prakash, said probiotics dramatically altered the architecture of the gut microbiota. It altered them not only in its composition but also in respect to how the foods that we consume are metabolized. Satya Prakash is also the senior author of the study. It permits a sole probiotic formulation to concurrently act on quite a few biochemical signaling trails to draw out broad helpful physiological effects. It also explains why the single formulation they present in the paper has such a dramatic effect on so many diverse markers.
The fruit fly is amazingly similar to mammals with about 70 % resemblance in terms of their biochemical traits, making it a good indicator of what would happen in humans, adds Prakash.
He also added the effects in humans would possibly not be as dramatic. However, their results certainly propose that a diet particularly integrating Triphala along with these probiotics will encourage a longer and healthier life.
The authors of the study also add that the gut-brain axis can explain the results. It is a two-way system of communication between microorganisms that exist in the gastrointestinal tract, i.e., the microbiota, and the brain.
The gut-brain axis has been shown by studies in the past few years to be involved in neuropathological changes. It also included a diversity of conditions such as neurodegeneration, irritable bowel syndrome, and even depression. But, a small number of studies have productively calculated therapeutics of gut microbiota-modulating having effects as strong or large as the formulation offered in the new study.
Learning from traditional medicine
Triphala, the herbal supplement that was used in the study is a formulation made from bibhitaki, amalaki, and haritaki, fruits. These fruits are used as medicinal plants in Ayurveda which is a form of traditional Indian medicine.
A former Ph.D. student at McGill and lead author of the study, Susan Westfall, says the idea of merging probiotics and Triphala comes from her very old interest in the study of natural products that are derived from traditional Indian medicine and the effect they have on neurodegenerative diseases.
Westfall says at the start of this study, they were hopeful that mixing Triphala with probiotics would be at least a little improved as compared to their individual components in terms of physiological benefit. However, they did not imagine how successful this formulation would be. Westfall is at present a postdoctoral fellow at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, USA.
The fresh study includes data filed in a US provisional patent via a company founded together by the authors. It has the likelihood of impacting the field of the probiotics, microbiome, and human health.
Taking into consideration the extensive physiological effects of this formulation shown in the fruit fly, Prakash expects their formulation could have remarkable applications in several human disorders including obesity, diabetes, chronic inflammation, neurodegeneration, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, and even cancer.
Conclusion
As Dr. Amesh Adalja, a board-certified infectious disease physician and Senior Scholar put it, the study reveals that directing probiotics and related substances to fruit flies increase longevity. The study offers vital proof-of-concept. It needs to be replicated in other organisms. But it is becoming increasingly obvious that changes in the microbiome are the key to many disease processes.
Almost every day new research is being announced that links dysbiosis (microbial imbalance) to several disease processes from cancer to infections to neurological diseases. The microbiome influences all aspects of human physiology including longevity, herein lays the secret to living longer. We recommend taking 2oz of ZanaJuices daily.
