Gut microbes followed migrating humans across continents, new study suggests
Stool samples from Hadza hunter-gatherers in Tanzania and Tsimane horticulturalists in Bolivia revealed strikingly similar gut bacteria, despite an ocean separating the two communities. That microbial kinship appears to have formed long ago, before human migration split the groups' ancestors apart, suggesting certain strains have travelled with our species for a very long time, possibly to mutual benefit. Both communities' gut microbiomes also looked markedly different from those of city dwellers, even people living nearby. Some scientists say this raises a real question about what is lost when modern lifestyles strip out microbes our genomes may have come to expect.
For you: Worth knowing your gut community is partly an ancient inheritance, and that urban living appears to reshape it; what that costs health is still an open question.
What it shows: Reported by NPR (health) and not verified by us: we could not trace this story to a published paper, so treat it as news rather than evidence we have checked.