Aging: The Price of the Microbiome

We like to talk about the bright side of the microbiome. Digestion, protection, the immune system, metabolism, and all the remarkable abilities our bacteria give us. But symbiosis is not free.

Our body lives in close proximity to trillions of microorganisms. This closeness is an advantage, but it demands control. Barriers must be maintained, immune responses must be regulated, microbial signals must be interpreted, and inflammation must be kept in check. In younger years, this usually works almost effortlessly. With age, it becomes more difficult. That is when the price of the microbiome becomes visible.

In this episode, we talk about inflammaging, the quiet chronic inflammation of the aging body, about the gut barrier, immune tolerance, and fascinating animal studies showing that an aged microbiome can influence features of aging. The microbiome is neither friend nor enemy. It is a biological ecosystem.

And that raises an exciting question: If we stabilize this ecosystem, can we also influence our own aging process, at least to some extent?