Asaccharobacter

Gut microbiome: meet Asaccharobacter celatus – the brain health bug

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Friday, February 9, 2024
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Research over recent years also suggests our gut bacteria may have a role in helping us maintain our brain health as we age.

Key Points: 
  • Research over recent years also suggests our gut bacteria may have a role in helping us maintain our brain health as we age.
  • My own preliminary research suggests one gut bug in particular called Asaccharobacter celatus (A celatus) could be useful.

Cognitive impairment and dementia

  • Worryingly, this often progresses to more severe impairment of brain function known as dementia.
  • Dementia affects more than 55 million people around the world, and projections suggest this number will increase to 82 million by 2030.

How gut bacteria could help

  • The bacteria in our gut perform functions that benefit our overall health.
  • A celatus, along with certain other bacteria, is capable of producing a compound known as equol.
  • These bacteria make equol from a compound called daidzein, which is found in soy products including soy milk, tofu and tempeh.
  • In many cases, we can influence the make-up of our gut bacteria through our diet, and this appears to be true for A celatus.
  • Read more:
    Gut bacteria rewind ageing brain in mice

    However, other research has shown consumption of soy foods in the diet has no effect on cognitive function.

  • All this suggests that, alongside the bacteria, we already have in our gut microbiome, what we eat could be equally important.

My research

  • This relates to complex cognitive tasks we perform daily, including doing maths in our head, or reorganising the day’s tasks in our mind when something unexpectedly changes.
  • This research appears promising, but we need more evidence to confirm the potential benefits of both A celatus bacteria and soy foods in helping older people maintain their brain health as they age.
  • Each week we will look at a different microbe and bring you the most up-to-date research on them.
  • Nathan Nuzum currently works at University College Cork as part of APC Microbiome and receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the INSPIRE COFUND Marie Skłodowska Curie grant agreement No.
  • The unpublished/original work referred to in this article was conducted at Deakin University as part of Dr. Nathan Nuzum's PhD.
  • Dr. Nuzum's PhD supervisors for this work includes his primary supervisor Dr. Helen Macpherson, and his co-supervisors (in alphabetical order) Drs.