In a recent study published in the journal Nature Medicine , researchers identified gut microbiota signatures and developed a microbial age metric, showing how younger microbial age may reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in metabolically unhealthy older adults. Research Briefing: Gut microbial age modulates cardiovascular disease risk in metabolically unhealthy older people . Image Credit: FOTOGRIN / Shutterstock Age and metabolism are interconnected and contribute significantly to CVD, the leading cause of death globally.
Gut microbiota may influence healthy aging by processing environmental signals, linking with host metabolism, and changing composition with age. However, the role of gut microbiota in long-term CVD risk amid aging and unhealthy metabolism is poorly understood due to the lack of defined microbial phenotypes and limited longitudinal data. Few metagenomic studies have explored this within a single population.
Further research is needed to understand this interplay and develop targeted interventions to enhance cardiovascular health and promote healthy aging. In the present study, researchers constructed five metabolic multimorbidity clusters (MCs) in a discovery cohort of 10,207 Chinese individuals based on 21 variables, including obesity-related measurements, blood pressure, insulin sensitivity, beta cell function, glucose, lipid parameters, and biomarkers of liver and kidney function. MC1 represented the metabolically healthy cluster, MC2 had low high-d.
