The role of the microbiota in sedentary life style disorders and ageing: lessons from the animal kingdom

O'Toole, P.W. and Shiels, P. G. (2020) The role of the microbiota in sedentary life style disorders and ageing: lessons from the animal kingdom. Journal of Internal Medicine, 287(3), pp. 271-282. (doi: 10.1111/joim.13021) (PMID:31957113)

Abstract

A paradox of so‐called developed countries is that, as the major historical causes of human mortality are eliminated or mitigated by medical progress, life‐style related diseases have become major killers. Furthermore, as life‐span is extended by the combined effects of modern medicine, health‐span is struggling to keep apace because of the burden of non‐communicable diseases linked to diet and sedentary life‐style. The gut microbiome is now recognized as a plastic environmental risk factor for many of these diseases, the microbiome being defined as the complex community of co‐evolved commensal microbes that breaks down components of a complex diet, modulates innate immunity, and produces signalling molecules and metabolites that can impact on diverse regulatory systems in mammals. Aspects of the so‐called “Western” life‐style linked to disease risk such as energy dense diet and antibiotic treatment are known to affect the composition and function of the microbiome. Here we review the detailed mechanisms whereby the gut microbiome may modulate risk of diseases linked to sedentary life‐style, and ageing related health loss. We focus on the comparative value of natural animal models such as hibernation for studying metabolic regulation, and the challenge of extrapolating from animal models to processes that occur in human ageing.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Shiels, Professor Paul
• Authors: O'Toole, P.W., and Shiels, P. G.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Cancer Sciences
• Journal Name: Journal of Internal Medicine
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 0954-6820
• ISSN (Online): 1365-2796
• Published Online: 19 January 2020
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 The Association for the Publication of the Journal of Internal Medicine
• First Published: First published in Journal of Internal Medicine 287(3):271-282
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy