Trust Your Gut

'Trust your gut.' We’ve all heard this about decision making in general. It may pertain to what you eat as well. 

Nutrition researchers are studying how your gut influences your physical and mental health. In Boston, scientists at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University are focusing on how the bacteria in a person’s gut influences obesity by examining how probiotics (often referred to ‘good bacteria’) influence metabolism, appetite, sleep, and other factors that influence body weight. They are also studying why peoples’ response to probiotics is not always the same to identify the factors that influence the response to probiotics.

Research about the microbiome is a “hot topic” in science, according to the National Institutes of Health. NIH sponsored the Human Microbiome Project which mapped the normal bacteria that live in and on the healthy human body. With this understanding of a normal microbiome as the basis, researchers around the world, including at the HNRCA are now exploring the links between changes in the microbiome and various health conditions.

Learn more about the Human Microbiome Project.