The Medical Advisor

Probiotics are living microorganisms that offer lots of health benefits if consumed in sufficient amounts, such as balancing the “good” bacteria in your digestive system, strengthening immune system, and lowering the risk and severity of diarrhoea. Many studies also linked probiotics with improvement in mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, and stress. The global gut health is predicted to grow by around 8% annually at least to the end of the decade. There are a number of factors combining to drive growth in the gut and digestive health market. One is that consumers are increasingly aware of the importance of gut health and comfort, and that they can, to some extent, manage that themselves through food choices and supplements. This is linked to the fact that global populations are ageing, and more and more people are living with chronic gastric disorders. At the same time, scientists are gaining better understanding of both the importance of the gut (microbiome) on huma...

Yes — the gut bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila is increasingly recognized as a biomarker predicting response to cancer immunotherapy. This is one of the most important discoveries in microbiome-oncology in the past decade. Below is a clear scientific overview of what the research shows. Patients with Akkermansia respond better to checkpoint inhibitors Multiple studies have shown that cancer patients whose gut microbiome contains Akkermansia respond better to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) such as anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 therapies. In a clinical cohort of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients: Higher levels of Akkermansia were associated with disease stabilization or partial response Patients without the bacterium were more likely to have disease progression during immunotherapy ( PubMed ). Another analysis found that  intestinal Akkermansia presence predicted clinical response to PD-1 blockade  in advanced lung cancer patients ( Biocodex Microbiota Institute )....

Diet (1) and exercise (2) are effective natural strategies to help protect your brain against neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia. But did you know that your oral microbiome, composed of different bacterial strains living in your mouth, also plays a role in protecting your brain? Oral Bacteria — The Missing Link for Dementia? A study published in PNAS Nexus investigated how specific bacteria in the mouth influence cognitive function and dementia risk. Specifically, researchers focused on the connection between the oral microbiome, nitric oxide (NO) production and cognitive performance, particularly in individuals with the APOE4 gene, a gene associated with heightened risk of Alzheimer’s disease (more on this later). 3 • Framework of the study —  The study involved 115 participants over 50 years old from the PROTECT study, an online cohort created to track the cognitive function of older adults across the United Kingdom. 4  Saliva samples were collected from the partic...

Probiotics are a combination of live microorganisms, while prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients. Both probiotics and prebiotics are essential for digestive health and overall wellness. Probiotics help to promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut, while prebiotics can help to feed those beneficial bacteria and support a healthy balance of bacteria in the digestive tract.  The Connection Between Gut Inflammation and Weight Gain Gut health is one factor that affects inflammation. An unbalanced microbiota adds to the type of inflammation that supports weight gain and fluid retention, which makes losing weight extremely difficult. This is why rebalancing gut microbes become one of the main keys to weight management which can be helped by probiotics. Lactobacillus Gasseri and Weight Loss Lactobacillus gasseri, of all the probiotic bacteria examined so far, shows some of the most promising weight-loss effects. It has been shown in numerous animal experiments that it h...