Researcher Grațiela Grădișteanu, PhD, from the Faculty of Biology of the University of Bucharest and the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest, brings to the table, in a new episode of the UB Science Dose series, a necessary discussion about the microbiome and its role in maintaining balance throughout the entire body. At the same time, she underlines the necessity of adopting a healthy lifestyle for our well-being.
What is the microbiome, also known as microbiote? What is its contribution in maintaining the health of our entire body? How should a newborn’s microbiote be and how is it influenced by the manner of delivery? What are the butyrate and colonocytes and what functions do they fulfill? What is dysbiosis? How does the intestinal microbiome of people affected by depression or anxiety look like? To what degree illnesses such as metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cancer or allergies influence the way the microbiome changes?
Researcher Grațiela Grădișteanu will give us the answers to these questions, and many others, during our current episode of the UB Science Dose.
The 15th episode of the UB Science Dose can be accessed here.
Showing that we have only just recently started to understand how important the microbiome is for the human body, Grațiela Grădișteanu explains that it accomplishes important functions in digestion and the production of vitamins and metabolites, such as the butyrate, which plays a fundamental role both in assuring the nutrients for the epithelial cells of the colon, as well as in reducing inflammation throughout the body.
Made up from a multitude of bacteria, viruses, fungi and other beneficial microorganisms which live in and on us, the microbiome protects us against infections, by producing various molecules with anti-infectious role and determining the manner in which the body reacts to them. At the same time, researcher Grațiela Grădișteanu affirms that, due to the so-called gut-brain axis, bacteria present in the microbiote can actually influence our behavior. In this sense, studies have shown that patients with depression and anxiety present certain changes in the intestinal microbiome.
Next, Grațiela Grădișteanu explains to what degree the manner of delivery, vaginal or C-section, determines the aspect of the newborn’s microbiote. Breastfeeding also plays a significant role because, by nursing, the mother transfers the baby antibodies and beneficial bacteria. As a result, until around 3 years old, the baby configures a microbiome similar to that of the adult.
However, there are a number of ways by which we can change our microbiote. The most accessible of them is by diet. The researcher remarks that it is vital to avoid the so-called occidental diet, extremely rich in sugars, processed foods, animal fats and protein, which conduces to an unhealthy microbiome and facilitates inflammation in the gut.
Equally essential is varying the foods we eat, which leads to a healthy and balanced microbiote and, ultimately, helps us face infections easier. As such, ketogenic diets, low in carbohydrates, are not recommended, because the body loses specifically the microorganisms that would metabolize fatty acids, which would lead to losing gut microbial diversity. In these conditions, the most recommended diet is the Mediterranean one, consisting of a lot of fruit and vegetables and which includes, even if in small quantities, foods of animal origin, thus assuring the diversity absolutely necessary for a healthy microbiome.
In what concerns the dangers of an unbalanced microbiote, Grațiela Grădișteanu notes that there are a series of studies which correlate the aspect of the gut microbiome with the risk for developing cancer. In addition, the manner cancer patients’ microbiote looks will influence the way their body will respond to chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
The same goes for patients with type II diabetes, this being the main research subject of Grațiela Grădișteanu at the University of Bucharest. As she points out, the analysis of microbiome changes in diabetes patients proves that the bacteria which produce butyrate – extremely important for maintaining the body in a balanced state (homeostasis) – are absent. Thus, the research team that Grațiela Grădișteanu is part of is looking for a solution to improve the microbiome of those patients by recommending customized diets, adapted to the specific microbiome particularities of patients who have this illness.
We will discuss more with Grațiela Grădișteanu about all these phenomena and their implications, on the importance of developing new studies regarding the microbiome, as well as on the advantages of adopting a healthy lifestyle in the 15th episode of the UB Science Dose.
Grațiela Grădișteanu, PhD, is researcher at the Faculty of Biology of the University of Bucharest and the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest.
She has graduated the Faculty of Biology of the University of Bucharest with a thesis in Biochemistry and holds a master’s degree in Microbian Biotechnology and Genetics. She stared her research career in 2011 as a research assistant at Conway Institute, University College Dublin, where she obtained her PhD (2015) with a thesis on the biology of infections. Grațiela Grădișteanu participated in several European projects and received three international scholarships: for masters’s studies (Democritus University, Greece, 2010), for doctoral studies (University College Dublin, Ireland, 2011-2015), and postdoctoral studies (University College Dublin, Ireland, 2015-2016).
Since 2016, she is a fellow researcher at the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest and has been actively involved in several national and international projects as project director. She is author and co-author of many articles and specialized studies.
Her main fields of research include omic technologies, molecular diagnosis for infectious diseases, the microbiome in health and illnesses, biomaterials and the engineering of tissue.
More details about Grațiela Grădișteanu can be found here and here.
Launched in October 2021, the UB Science Dose is a project which proposes a concentrated and dynamic manner of communicating scientific information in an attractive, lively and expressive format, by establishing a dialogue platform with the audience interested in science.
Initiated through the Science Communication program, launched by the University of Bucharest in 2018, the UB Science Dose addresses the large audience and encourages the connection between the academic and non-academic settings, based on current interest subjects.
The guests of this series, meant to represent, in a synthetic and captivating communication manner, the various areas of science, are mainly professors and researchers within the academic community of the University of Bucharest.
The material presented in the UB Science Dose include short and dynamic presentations of subjects relevant for contemporary society: pollution, climate change, education, digitalization, significant contributions to research, and others. Next to the fundamental need to communicate scientifically proven information, the Dose proposes an important component of social responsibility, confirming the role and mission of the University of Bucharest in society and contributing to increasing awareness on acute contemporary problems and finding and promoting possible solutions for them.