A little-known gut bacterium called Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum (BP) may help delay aging and extend healthy lifespan, according to a new study by researchers in China.
The team set out to understand how bacteria in the digestive system influence "inflammaging," a form of chronic, low-grade inflammation that builds up throughout the body as a natural part of growing older. While inflammation is essential in the short term to fight off injury and infection, aging weakens the immune system's ability to bring it back under control. Over time, that lingering inflammation damages cells and has been linked to conditions including arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and dementia.
BP is a bacterium known to help maintain a healthy intestinal barrier and fight off harmful pathogens in the gut. To study it, researchers analyzed stool and blood samples from 1,740 adults in China who had no major diseases, infections, recent vaccinations or antibiotic use, all of which can alter gut bacteria. Before giving samples, the participants followed a standard diet based on the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents, which emphasizes fruits, vegetables, lean meat and fish, and they completed questionnaires about their eating habits over the previous year.
BP declines with age in both sexes
Using a tool called MicroAge, which analyzes changes in the gut microbiome to estimate a person's biological age rather than their chronological age, the researchers found that the abundance of BP sharply declines with age in both men and women. This made it, in the team's words, a "sex-independent hallmark of the aging gut microbiome."
People with higher concentrations of BP had a younger biological age, a sign that the bacterium may be protective against aging. The researchers described BP as "geroprotective," meaning it may help guard against biological aging.
Mice given the bacterium showed less inflammation
After the human analysis, the researchers orally administered BP to naturally aged mice, roughly equivalent to humans aged 56 to 69, and compared them with a control group that received no supplementation.
The mice were tested on motor skills such as walking, and on cognitive abilities, before their tissues and organs were collected for analysis. Mice that received BP had more varied and beneficial gut bacteria than the control group afterward, and low-grade inflammation had improved in the liver, lungs, skeletal muscle, kidneys, heart, spleen and intestine.
The BP-supplemented mice also showed improved balance, walking, memory and behavior compared with the control group. The researchers believe BP raised levels of a gut compound called 5-Aminovaleric acid betaine (5-AVAB), which declines with age in both mice and humans and may be linked to lower biological age.
Limitations and how to boost BP naturally
The study authors acknowledged limitations, noting that some findings rely on self-reported dietary data and that all of the mice used in the experiment were male. The findings are observational and cannot firmly establish that BP reverses or delays biological aging, but the team said there may be value in supplementing lost BP through food.
Consuming certain strains of prebiotics and probiotics has been associated with increased BP levels. These can be found in lentils, chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, garlic, onions and asparagus. Fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, kimchi and sauerkraut have also been shown to diversify gut bacteria.
The study was published in the journal Nature Aging.
