Recent research has identified the diversity of bacteria that live in your gut, or microbiome, is critically important for preventing disease, maintaining good brain health, and lowering your risk of diabetes and heart disease. Now, a new study from the University of Colorado at Boulder suggests that the earlier you get your kids active and exercising, the better the diversity of those gut microbes.
A group of juvenile rats that voluntarily exercised daily had more beneficial and diverse microbiomes than both juvenile peers that were sedentary as well as adult rats that were active, the research shows.
While studies have shown that lifestyle factors such as diet can positively or negatively affect the adult human microbiome, it’s possible that exercise at a young age is especially important because the youthful microbiome is important in shaping a young person’s immune system and neural functions through adulthood.
These healthier microbiomes not only promote better brain health but may have an anti-depressant effect as well as a metabolic one, lead study author Monika Fleshner, Ph.D., says.
The study appears in the journal Immunology and Cell Biology.
(Photo © Guilherme Jófili/CC by 2.0)
