{"id":498659,"date":"2026-02-25T14:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/498659\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T14:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:00:10","slug":"social-deprivation-tied-to-less-diverse-gut-microbiome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/498659\/","title":{"rendered":"Social deprivation tied to less diverse gut microbiome"},"content":{"rendered":"

Living in a poorer neighborhood\u00a0in the UK\u00a0could\u00a0impact\u00a0the make-up of\u00a0your\u00a0gut microbiome,\u00a0potentially leading to\u00a0worse health.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New\u00a0research, led by King’s College London and\u00a0the University of Nottingham,\u00a0found\u00a0that\u00a0people\u00a0living\u00a0in areas of higher\u00a0social deprivation\u00a0have\u00a0a less diverse range of bacteria in their gut.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0study, published in\u00a0npj\u00a0biofilms and microbiomes,\u00a0also found\u00a0people in these areas\u00a0have\u00a0less\u00a0short-chain fatty acid-producing bacteria \u2013 which are vital for reducing inflammation<\/a> and regulating energy metabolism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These\u00a0differences in gut bacteria\u00a0could lead to worse health outcomes including mental health and metabolic health\u00a0(which helps manage people’s energy levels), immune system\u00a0function, and mood stability.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In particular, the research found a link between those in areas of higher deprivation who had worse gut microbiomes and mental\u00a0health\u00a0conditions\u00a0such as anxiety.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the study, the researchers\u00a0analyzed\u00a0the gut bacteria of 1,390 female twin individuals from\u00a0TwinsUK\u00a0along with their residential postcodes to\u00a0identify\u00a0the\u00a0participants’\u00a0area level socioeconomic status.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To measure the deprivation of an area they\u00a0primarily\u00a0used the\u00a0well-established\u00a0Townsend Deprivation Index.\u00a0The Townsend Deprivation Index measures deprivation using practical indicators like unemployment, overcrowding, and home or car ownership\u00a0to measure\u00a0material\u00a0deprivation\u00a0of different areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The researchers identified 12 bacterial species linked to living in more deprived areas. Two of these, Lawsonibacter and Intestinimonas massiliensis, were negatively associated not only with deprivation, but also with higher rates of anxiety and diabetes. These two bacteria normally produce butyrate, a helpful substance in the gut that supports blood sugar control, energy balance, and communication between the gut and the brain. Changes in these bacteria may help explain how social disadvantage could affect both mental and physical health.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The findings\u00a0suggest\u00a0the gut\u00a0microbiome<\/a> may play a role in the connections between social deprivation and adverse health outcomes.\u00a0Researchers hope that\u00a0interventions\u00a0such as\u00a0fibre-rich diets that support\u00a0butyrate-producing\u00a0bacteria,\u00a0and\u00a0targeted\u00a0probiotic\u00a0approaches to\u00a0improve\u00a0gut health,\u00a0could help counter some of the harmful effects that socioeconomic stress has on a person’s mental and physical wellbeing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr\u00a0Cristina Menni,\u202fSenior author of the study and a\u00a0Senior Lecturer in Molecular Epidemiology at King’s College London, said:\u00a0“Although\u00a0this is still an emerging area\u00a0of research, we know that the diversity of bacteria in\u00a0the\u00a0gut\u00a0plays\u00a0an important role\u00a0on overall health.\u00a0Our findings suggests that people who live in more socially deprived areas\u00a0of the UK\u00a0may\u00a0have less diverse\u00a0gut microbiomes, which could\u00a0affect\u00a0other\u00a0aspects of\u00a0their health.\u00a0We\u00a0hope that this might lead to interventions\u00a0that support gut health and help improve overall wellbeing.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The gut microbiome might be one of the ways our environment and social circumstances,\u00a0such as chronic stress, financial strain, access to healthy food,\u00a0affect both our mental health and our metabolic health.\u00a0These\u00a0microbes,\u00a0in turn,\u00a0influence\u00a0how\u00a0the\u00a0body process\u00a0energy and\u00a0communicate with\u00a0the\u00a0brain.\u00a0In other words, the bacteria in our gut could help explain how where we live and the stresses we face shape our overall wellbeing.\u00a0We hope that our findings\u00a0will contribute to new strategies for supporting health in disadvantaged\u00a0communities.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr. Yu Lin,\u00a0first author of the study and\u00a0Research\u00a0Associate at King’s College London<\/p>\n

Dr Ana Valdes, Professor of Molecular Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, said:\u202f”By uncovering how social deprivation translates into biological changes \u2013 fundamentally altering our gut microbiome composition \u2013 we can now design targeted interventions to reverse some of these health inequalities. Understanding these pathways gives us actionable targets, whether through dietary fiber, probiotics, or other gut-focused strategies, to break the cycle linking poverty to poor health outcomes.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Source:<\/p>\n

Journal reference:<\/p>\n

Lin, Y., et al. (2026). Gut microbiome composition and function reflect socioeconomic deprivation.\u00a0Npj Biofilms and Microbiomes. DOI: 10.1038\/s41522-026-00917-9.\u00a0https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41522-026-00917-9<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Living in a poorer neighborhood\u00a0in the UK\u00a0could\u00a0impact\u00a0the make-up of\u00a0your\u00a0gut microbiome,\u00a0potentially leading to\u00a0worse health.\u00a0 New\u00a0research, led by King’s College…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1232,4345,199616,10454,49,48,4603,84,7717,7429,393,16956,1098,994,2618],"class_list":["post-498659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-anxiety","tag-bacteria","tag-biofilms","tag-brain","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-epidemiology","tag-health","tag-immune-system","tag-inflammation","tag-mental-health","tag-metabolism","tag-microbiome","tag-research","tag-stress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}