Health microbes, those that make up the invisible army of the microbiome that populates our body and protects it, are also acquired thanks to social interactions, relationships with partners, relatives and friends. This is the conclusion of an international study coordinated by the Cibio department of the University of Trento, published in Nature.
It has been demonstrated in various researches that the microbiome is a great ally of health, in fact it performs fundamental functions, such as guaranteeing the immune system and digestive capacity. However, there is still little knowledge on how the acquisition and transmission of bacteria and other microbes that make up the microbiome takes place.
The research group of Nicola Segata, professor of the Cibio Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrated Biology of the University of Trento and the European Institute of Oncology, has tried to unravel the question. health bacteria human.
Eighteen institutions and research centers involved worldwide. The results were published in the scientific journal Nature. This is the largest study to date on microbiome transmission. Indeed, the authors analyzed more than 9,000 stool and saliva samples from people in 20 countries on all continents who were included in the project which aimed to identify how bacteria in microbiomes are transmitted between generations (vertical transmission ) and between people who live in close contact, such as partners, children, or friends (horizontal transmission).
Research has confirmed and more accurately defined that the first transmission of the intestinal microbiome occurs at birth and is long-lasting, so much so that the baggage of healthy microbiome bacteria inherited from the mother is recognizable even up to 80 years of age.