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Who you live with has a major impact on your gut health
New York Post • • health
Key Points:
- A new study found that people living together share about 26% of the same oral microbes, regardless of their relationship, while romantic partners share 44%, likely due to kissing.
- Shared lifestyle habits like diet and physical activity influence the microbiome, but physical proximity and direct microbial transfer have a stronger impact on sharing specific strains.
- Microbial exchange extends beyond households to community members, though to a lesser degree, and there is significant overlap between oral and gut microbiomes due to saliva swallowing.
- Understanding microbial transmission traits could improve treatments like fecal microbiota transplantation by enhancing the transfer of beneficial microbes to patients.
- Researchers emphasize that microbial exchange among humans is a natural, long-evolved process integral to our biology and health, not something to fear.
