Western lifestyle including diet, sanitation, and clinical practices are reasons that altered the gut microbiome and decrease its diversity.
![Modern Lifestyle Practices may Diminish the Variety of Gut Bacteria that Digests Food Modern Lifestyle Practices may Diminish the Variety of Gut Bacteria that Digests Food](https://images.medindia.net/health-images/1200_1000/gut-microbes-obesity.jpg)
Researchers compared the fecal bacteria of adults from two rural, non-industrialized regions in Papua New Guinea with those of the US residents. They found that Papua New Guineans have microbiomes with greater bacterial diversity, lower inter-individual variation, and vastly different compositional profiles compared with the US residents. Bacterial dispersal, or the ability of bacteria to move from individual to individual, appeared to be the dominant process that shapes the collection of gut bacteria in residents of Papua New Guinea but not those in the US residents.
Walter said, "These findings suggest that lifestyle practices that reduce bacterial dispersal, specifically sanitation and drinking water treatment, might be an important cause of microbiome alterations." However, the researchers noted the importance of caution when questioning specific modern lifestyle practices, though, because overall, health and life expectancy is higher in westernized societies.
The study is published in the Cell Reports.
Source-Medindia