Fight Aging!

The gut microbiome changes with age in ways that provoke greater chronic inflammation throughout the body. Unresolved inflammation is a feature of aging with numerous contributing causes, such as the growing burden of senescent cells and molecular debris from stressed and damaged cells. Inflammation in brain tissue is a feature of all of the common neurodegenerative conditions, and ever more researchers are beginning to consider that it may occupy a central position in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease.

Several studies investigating the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease have identified various interdependent constituents contributing to the exacerbation of the disease, including amyloid-β plaque formation, tau protein hyperphosphorylation, neurofibrillary tangle accumulation, glial inflammation, and the eventual loss of proper neural plasticity. Recently, using various models and human patients, another key factor has been established as an influential determinant in brain homeostasis: the gut-brain axis.

The implications of a rapidly aging population and the absence of a definitive cure for Alzheimer's disease have prompted a search for non-pharmaceutical tools, of which gut-modulatory therapies targeting the gut-brain axis have shown promise. Yet multiple recent studies examining changes in human gut flora in response to various probiotics and environmental factors are limited and difficult to generalize; whether the state of the gut microbiota in Alzheimer's disease is a cause of the disease, a result of the disease, or both through numerous feedback loops in the gut-brain axis, remains unclear.

However, preliminary findings of longitudinal studies conducted over the past decades have highlighted dietary interventions, especially Mediterranean diets, as preventative measures for Alzheimer's disease by reversing neuroinflammation, modifying the intestinal barrier and blood-brain barrier (BBB), and addressing gut dysbiosis. Conversely, the consumption of Western diets intensifies the progression of Alzheimer's disease through genetic alterations, impaired barrier function, and chronic inflammation. This review aims to support the growing body of experimental and clinical data highlighting specific probiotic strains and particular dietary components in preventing Alzheimer's disease via the gut-brain axis.

Link: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2022.1042865