Research Shows Gut Microbiome May Be Linked To Bone Health

Dr. Rana Samadfam, the principal scientist in musculoskeletal research at Charles River, writes a guest blog for Scientific American (2/10) saying that our gut microbiome, which is “now known to influence heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease and obesity,” may also help bones heal. Dr. Samadfam says that “exciting new research now shows that the gut microbiome can affect bone strength in both animal models and humans.” Dr. Samadfam says that the results from rodent models may be “related to the immune system,” as “different cells in the immune system can regulate bone density, and an imbalance in this regulation leads to diseases such as arthritis, cancer and osteoporosis (a disease in which bones become weak and brittle).” In addition, treatments with probiotics in rodent models have been shown to improve bone mass, which may “indicate that treatments that affect the composition of the microbiome can also regulate bone health.”