How Much of the Aging of the Gut Microbiome is Induced by Pharmaceutical Use?
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Antibiotics and a range of other pharmaceuticals produce dramatic short-term effects on the composition of the gut microbiome. To a large degree, the gut microbiome restores itself once the pharmaceutical is no longer present. That said, we might well ask how much of the observed human data on gut microbiome aging is produced by, say, antibiotic use. Researchers have observed gut microbiome changes in population studies taking place as early as the mid-30s, and it is hard to envisage any form of meaningful degeneration taking place at that age. But exposure to antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals? That is very prevalent. In later life, given the presence of chronic diseases of aging, there is a great deal more chronic pharmaceutical use, as well as the employment of pharmaceuticals with meaningful side effects. We might again ask how much of the observed aging of the human gut microbiome at the population level results from the use of these treatments versus mechanisms of aging.
Drug-mediated disruption of the aging gut microbiota and mucosal immune system (2025)
