Scientists believe they have found a link between bacteria in our gut and how fast we age

The human gut is a complex ecosystem, home to trillions of microorganisms that play a vital role in maintaining our health.

Recent findings published in the journal of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience have found that the diversity of microbes in the gut may not only influence our physical fitness but also affect how fast we age.

The revelations by a team at the Hungarian University of Sports Science open up new possibilities for harnessing the power of probiotics to promote health and longevity, said Professor Zsolt Radak, lead author of the study.

With his team in Budapest, Radak examined the relationship between gut microbiome diversity, biological age - our age as determined by the state of our overall health, and not our years of life - and physical fitness of 80 amateur rowers.

For the purposes of the study, each participant underwent a series of fitness assessments and provided a stool sample to analyse the bacteria in their gut, as well as blood samples to determine their biological age using epigenetic markers.

Epigenetic markers are like switches in our DNA that can control whether certain genes are turned on or off, and play a crucial role in determining how our cells develop, function, and respond to our environment.

The quality of our cells can be influenced by factors such as our lifestyle, diet, and exposure to environmental factors, which can ultimately impact our health and how we age.

Epigenetic markers allow scientists to measure this cellular decline, which provides a snapshot of our "epigenetic clocks," or "biological age".

"We found that inflammatory bacteria are actually accelerating the ageing process, so if you have more inflammatory bacteria. Then you have advanced ageing," Radak told Euronews Next,