BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Can Probiotics Cure Alzheimer’s?

 

 

Research on how gut microbiota affects Alzheimer’s Disease, also called AD, has been done, and promising data collected. The only problem is that all of this data comes solely from research done on mice. There has been minimal research up to the present that was tested on actual people.

The closest thing to real-life research in this field, however, would be the research done by Dr. Mahmoud Salami, as reviewed by Gut Microbiota Research and Practice. Dr. Salami has collected data from a trial he is conducting in Iran. This trial consists of 60 people between the age 60 and 95. Now since we know that there has been minimal research on how gut microbiota effects Alzheimer’s, this work done by Dr. Salami is impressive.

Dr. Salami has found that a daily dose of probiotic Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium bacteria taken over 12 weeks may improve cognitive function in elderly Alzheimer’s patients. Although more research must be done to have more definitive answers, Dr. Salami’s research opens up even more of a reason to human testing to be done.

Countless research has been done on how where one lives can affect there health, so wouldn’t it be interesting to see if data, similar to Dr. Salami’s, collected in varying locations throughout the world may provide varying results due to the location the participant calls their home?

 

 

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1 Comment

  1. gabdomen

    There are so many different findings on what causes alzheimer’s. However this seems to be spot on in terms of location affecting it. I would be interested in evidence of which geographical locations have the highest amounts of people with alzheimer’s. In addition, while I’m not always a fan of bacteria usage and live diseases as a cure, I think the results seem staggering for such minimal knowledge on the use of gut microbiota as a cure. Check this site I found where they talk about the reverse affect of the bacteria- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27566465

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