We have talked many times about the microbiota, but... Do you know what the microbiome is? It is the set of genes of the microbiota that inhabits your body. (in the skin, intestine...etc.)
As we have mentioned on several occasions, the microbiota changes over the years and so does your microbiome. That is why it is understandable that you can find out a person's age by looking at his or her microbiome.
Redacción médica tells us about an article from mySystem, in which researchers from the University of California demonstrate in a study how from a microbiome sample (either a skin or stool sample) a person's age can be accurately ascertained.
They came to several conclusions:
- Young individuals (18 to 30 years old) have a much more diverse and abundant microbiota than older individuals. This represents an advance in identifying the relationship between microorganisms and degenerative processes and the detection of certain diseases.
- There are significant gender differences in the gut microbiome but not in the oral or skin microbiome.
- Skin samples provide a much more accurate result than stool samples. One possible reason is that the skin microbiota is greatly affected by physiological changes in our body as we age such as dryness or decreased serum production.
The goal is to create similar machine learning models tocorrelate how the microbiome influences our health, leading to a non-invasive diagnostic test for the detection of certain diseases.
In 2014, researchers in Washington compared the microbial age with the actual age of malnourished infants during the first months of life. They found gender differences in gut microbiota but not in oral and skin microbiota.
They concluded that the difference between chronological and microbial age was associated with the degree of developmental maturity of the children.
You can find the complete article at:
