Research highlight Posted on 26 July 2012

ICHEC is delighted to announce that its users have recently published their research in a Nature article, entitled "Gut microbiota composition correlates with diet and health in the elderly" (Claesson et al., 2012). The study examined populations of microbes that lived in the intestines of 178 elderly subjects, where ICHEC support and resources have enabled the construction of "metagenomes" that represent such microbial populations. The authors, including those from University College Cork and Teagasc, highlighted some interesting relationships between intestinal microbiota with diet, health and residential status. The results provide valuable clues and directions as to how dietary interventions and development of new food products may improve public health in an ageing population.

Reference:

Claesson M.J., Jeffery I.B., Conde S., Power S.E., O'Connor E.M., Cusack S., Harris H.M.B., Coakley M., Lakshminarayanan B., O'Sullivan O., Fitzgerald G.F., Deane J., O'Connor M., Harnedy N., O'Connor K., O'Mahony D., van Sinderen D., Wallace M., Brennan L., Stanton C., Marchesi J.R., Fitzgerald A.P., Shanahan F., Hill C., Ross P.R. and O'Toole P.W. (2012) Gut microbiota composition correlates with diet and health in the elderly. Nature, published online 13 July 2012.
[ link to article ]

Related links:

Irish Times articles
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0714/1224320063665.html
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2012/0717/1224320247818.html

Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre - News
http://www.ucc.ie/research/apc/content/news_events/news/News62.html

Teagasc - News
http://www.teagasc.ie/news/2012/201207-13a.asp

Science Foundation Ireland - News
http://www.sfi.ie/news-events/press-releases/microbiology-getting-to-the-gut-of-an-elderly-diet/

ELDERMET project
http://eldermet.ucc.ie/