The composition of the gut microbiome changes with age, becoming less helpful and more inflammatory as the proportion of actively harmful bacteria grows. There are many contributing causes with plausible supporting evidence in the scientific literature, including dietary changes characteristic of late life, immune aging, intestinal tissue dysfunction that is downstream of stem cell aging or senescent cell accumulation, and so forth. As is often the case in these matters, it remains unclear as to which of these causes are the most relevant targets for…
The Relationship Between the Gut Microbiome and Declining Immune Function in Aging
The composition of the gut microbiome changes with age, becoming less helpful and more inflammatory as the proportion of actively harmful bacteria grows. There are many contributing causes with plausible supporting evidence in the scientific literature, including dietary changes characteristic of late life, immune aging, intestinal tissue dysfunction that is downstream of stem cell aging or senescent cell accumulation, and so forth. As is often the case in these matters, it remains unclear as to which of these causes are the most relevant targets for…