Microbiota

Researchers say they’ve uncovered a link between gut bacteria and the onset of Parkinson’s disease. The findings suggest a new way of treating one of the world’s most debilitating diseases.

New research shows that women who regularly consume sodas may be lowering their chances of getting pregnant.
For the study, researchers interviewed 524 women undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment about their food and beverage consumption. They found a link between low-calorie sweeteners, such as saccharine and sucrose, and reduced fertility rates. [1
Source: Time
The study was presented on 17 October 2016 at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine congress in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In a new study, researchers found that repeated treatments with antibiotics increased the risk of Type 1 diabetes in the rodents. [1]
The finding is harrowing, considering that approximately half of all prescriptions written for antibiotics in the United States are inappropriate and that a recent study found that antibiotics are prescribed to children about twice as often as they should be. [2]

Healthy soil contains billions of tiny microorganisms that help plants to thrive and our food supply to remain abundant. A paper, published in Nature Communications, used large-scale data comparisons of soil from 78 global drylands and from 179 locations across Scotland to study diversity of soil microbiota. The researchers found that diversity is absolutely imperative for supporting ecosystems.

A single course of antibiotics can cause Clostridium difficile, or C. diff – a bacterium that can lead to a condition known as Clostridium difficile colitis – to flourish in the gut, according to researchers at North Carolina State University.
The discovery was made during experiments with mice. The scientists say the antibiotics were found to kill off bacteria responsible for altering bile acid.