https://interestingengineering.com/health/your-roommate-can-change-your-gut
New research on a bird species on Cousin Island reveals that close companions and cohabitees share the same “good” gut bacteria. This suggests that humans likely do, too.
A new study published in Molecular Ecology investigated a species of songbird living on Cousin Island. While the Seychelles warbler lives in isolation, its habitat, as the name suggests, provided “unusually clear evidence” that physical closeness changes the gut biome.Skip Ad
Researchers from the University of East Anglia spent years investigating the Seychelles warbler because these birds never leave their home. They exist in what researchers described as “nature’s lab.” This offered “an exceptional opportunity to study life-long biological processes in the wild.” The team decided to hone in on this phenomenon as it concerns a type of “good bacteria” that can only move between individuals rather than through the air: anaerobic gut bacteria.
Previous studies hinted that humans, too, share “good” gut biology. Spouses and roommates appeared to share bacteria, even when their diets differed. However, this new bird research provides “unusually clear evidence” that anaerobic bacteria are indeed exchanged socially, and for “good” reason— it just might be good for our health, not just our mental health, to interact.
We share guts with those we live with
Dr. Chuen Chang Lee from UEA’s School of Biological Sciences spearheaded this research project for his PhD. Over several years, he and his team collected hundreds of samples of feces.
As these songbirds live in conditions described by researchers as a laboratory setting in nature, they were ideal candidates for tracking how social interaction shapes their guts over the course of their lives.
“It gives us the best of both worlds,” said Prof Richardson, who was involved in the study. “We can study animals living natural lives, with natural diets and gut bacteria, while still being able to collect detailed data from known individuals.”
Focusing on the relationships these birds shared, from breeding pairs to helpers and non-helpers living in the same group and elsewhere, the team determined through dung samples that the more social you are with another individual, the more your microbiomes begin to align.
As anaerobic bacteria cannot expose themselves to air, they can only inhabit an oxygen-free environment. Guts fit that description.
The study showed that these bacteria moved between intimate individuals and those who share nests. They are not just any bacteria, though. They are microbes that play an essential role in maintaining good health.
Socializing good for our health
“The people you might live with might subtly shape the microscopic ecosystem inside of you,” said Dr. Lee.
“This means that cosy nights in, shared washing‑up duties, and even sitting close on the sofa may bring your microbiomes quietly closer together.”
This shared biology might help us face threats we aren’t even aware of.
“Sharing beneficial anaerobic bacteria could strengthen immunity and improve digestive health across a household,” added Dr. Lee.
So, the benefits of socializing extend far beyond mental health. It changes the makeup of our guts, and it might even contribute to our resiliency, as a press release concludes.
The full study, ‘Social structure and interactions differentially shape aerotolerant and anaerobic gut microbiomes in a cooperative breeding species’ is published in the journal Molecular Ecology.
