Internal medicine

Pathology

Microbiome

Disease

Ageing

Bioinformatics

Biology

Cohort

Gerontology

Healthy ageing

Gut microbiome

Medicine

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology

The gut microbiome is a contributory factor in ageing-related health loss and in several non-communicable diseases in all age groups. Some age-linked and disease-linked compositional and functional changes overlap, while others are distinct. In this Review, we explore targeted studies of the gut microbiome of older individuals and general cohort studies across geographically distinct populations. We also address the promise of the targeted restoration of microorganisms associated with healthier ageing. In this Review, O’Toole and colleagues discuss the composition and function of the gut microbiome as it relates to ageing and ‘unhealthy’ ageing as well as the potential for microbiome-directed interventions to encourage ‘healthy’ ageing.

The gut microbiome as a modulator of healthy ageing