microbe

Deep within your gut lives a bustling world of microbes, each playing a role in digesting your food.

In animals such as rats, this area is rich in gut microbes that help break down food and produce a wide variety of chemical compounds called metabolites.

Yet not every sugar is easy for microbes to digest.

In lab and animal studies, they promoted the growth of beneficial gut microbes, hinting that they might also boost digestive health in humans.

Medications a person took years ago can still influence the community of microbes living in their gut, according to a large study conducted by the University of Tartu Institute of Genomics.