NHD CPD eArticle SPONSORED BY
NETWORK HEALTH DIGEST
Volume 7.17 - 19th October 2017
THE GUT MICROBIOTA IN OLDER ADULTS AND THE POTENTIAL FOR PROBIOTICS Victoria Avery ANutr Science Officer, Yakult UK Ltd Victoria has an MSc in Nutrition from the University of Surrey. She is currently an Associate Nutritionist, working towards becoming a Registered Nutritionist
Dr Louise Wilson RD Assistant Science Manager, Yakult UK Ltd Louise is a Registered Dietitian with over seven years’ experience of scientific research and writing publications in the field of nutrition and health.
Not only is the UK population at its largest, but it is also at its oldest. The latest data from the National Office for Statistics has shown that in 2016, 18% of the population were over the age of 65 years and 2.5% were over the age of 85 years.1 Reducing the level of ill health and thus increasing healthy life expectancy is therefore more relevant than ever before, and would not only be of benefit to an individual through an improvement in their quality of life, but it would also reduce expenditure on public resources including those of the NHS. The potential for the gut microbiota to affect health is particularly relevant for older adults, defined as those aged 65 years and over, as the microbiota has been shown to be associated with agerelated changes in innate immunity, sarcopenia and cognitive function, all of which are elements of frailty. Over the last decade our knowledge of how the gut microbiota changes with age has broadened and we now have a far greater understanding of key factors driving these changes and the implications for health, and we are beginning to develop an idea of what we might be able to do to optimise healthy aging of the gut microbiota. MICROBIOTA COMPOSITION
Extensive research has explored how the human intestine is colonised immediately after birth, and how the gut microbiota changes within the first two years of life before becoming
relatively stable and remaining so throughout adulthood.2 However, more recent evidence has shown that changes in the gut microbiota also occur in older adults which may have an impact on health.3 This will be explored and discussed further in this article. A number of variations in the composition of the gut microbiota in older adults, compared to younger adults, has been reported. Typically, the gut microbiota changes to one that seems to be less healthy and less protective. For several years, research using bacterial isolation techniques has shown that microbial diversity tends to be lower in older adults when compared to younger adults and that numbers and diversity of bifidobacteria decrease.4-5 However, as discussed in a thorough review in 2012, recent studies based on current molecular techniques have not consistently confirmed these findings.6
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