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Microbiome: do men and young people eat worse?

Have you ever heard of the microbiome? It is an entire ecosystem that lives within us. Some of its inhabitants are fierce bacteria to which the rest can contain if the set is in good condition. But how is a microbiome healthy? Let's see what the latest big study says about it!

What is the microbiome?

El microbiome it is a set of microorganisms that inhabits our digestive system. It is a whole microcosm in itself, since the number of microbes is ten times higher than all the cells in the human body. Thus, it is a complex system that is key when it comes to metabolize essential nutrients. What can the state you are in say about our Feeding Habits? Well many things.

First of all we must say that much research has been done on the variations in the microbiome. Some researchers claim that its variations cause disease. Others believe that diseases lead to variations. In fact, there is no definition of a healthy microbiome, he argues. Adriel Latorre-Perez. He is the director of the genomics department of Darwin Bioprospecting Excellence.

microbiome
The microbiome is made up of a large set of microorganisms / Source: Pixabay

Latorre-Pérez has led an investigation to try to find out the answer. It was carried out on 530 healthy volunteers from all over Spain and has thrown more than 70 million data. The result is a description of the typical Spanish microbiome. It also provides' a solid foundation for future studies investigating the effects of gut microbiome composition and deviations in adherence to Mediterranean diet".

The results

Balearics presents the lowest mean values ​​of diversity compared to Navarre y The Rioja. There the highest microbial richness is recorded. As you probably know, a more diverse ecosystem is one more stable. However, the research has not determined the existence of significant differences between the Mediterranean regions, islands and the rest of the Peninsula. These differences are based rather on the edad and in the sex. Thus, in men, Proteobacteria (pathogens such as Salmonela o Helicobacter).

Latorre-Pérez affirms that “men tend to show less healthy habits at a general level, such as a higher beer consumption, distilled alcohols o sugary drinks y lower consumption of fruits and vegetables, which has a direct impact on their gut microbiome ”.

As for YOUNG we can review that they have worst habits that are far removed from the Mediterranean diet. Eat less citrus or salads but they increase their consumption of sugary drinks y Fried. This is reflected in the quality of your microbiome.

Conclusion

To finish we can mention that the project Spanish Microbiome has been coordinated by the Central Dairy Institute for Personalized Nutrition under the scientific direction of Extraordinary Chair Central Dairy Asturiana-UCM. Darwin Bioprospecting Excellence has performed the analysis of the samples and the data. Without a doubt, it is a fascinating initiative that will help us better understand our body. In this way we can be more effective when it comes to prevent diseases.

 

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