⭑ 117 years old - 3 yoghurts a day, what can we learn? - see item #1.
⭑ These superfoods boost your gut health - here's how - item #2.
⭑ Best to time your prebiotic foods with your circadian rhythm - item #3.
⭑ Two exercises which boost your gut health - item #4.

All strength to Ukraine 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

Hello,

I trust you are well and active.

Maria Branyas Morera died last European summer at age 117. What was her secret?

Lucky for us Maria made one last request. “Please study me,” she said to Dr Manel Esteller, chairman of genetics at the University of Barcelona’s School of Medicine.

According to Dr Esteller's research - just published - there was no one secret. It turns out that Maria's exceptional longevity was due to a complex interplay of genetic, lifestyle, and microbial factors - particularly in the gut.
​
She had all the expected "great genes" for longevity, plus a few that had never been identified in that category before. She walked for an hour a day inot her 90s. She ate real food (Mediterranean diet - characterised by vegetables, beans, and fish) and not too much of it. This is all unsurprising but still a powerful message for us all.

What was surprising to me was that she had cells that seemed younger than her age. The type of microbes that lived in and on her body - her microbiome - are associated with low levels of inflammation. The researchers found her microbiome had an abundance of a type of beneficial bacteria.

We can’t change our genes. And I imagine, as a reader of this newsletter, that you are already consistently exercising and eating well.

But we can change the bugs in our gut, and it turns out that when you eat certain foods and what exercise you do affects the growth and health of our gut bacteria.

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01 Yoghurt - Bifidobacterium - This One Is Easy

As we age we inevitably experience a decline in the effectiveness of our immune system (immunosenescence), and an increase in chronic low-level inflammation (inflammaging). This is important to know because inflammaging interferes with how your body processes sugars and fats. It can make your cells less responsive to insulin (raising blood sugar), promote fat accumulation (especially around the belly), and accelerate muscle breakdown.
​
⇒ Maria's gut had a high amount of Bifidobacterium.

Bifidobacterium are friendly bacteria often found in people who eat yogurt and other fermented dairy. They make small molecules called short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) when they break down fibre. Those SCFAs act like calming signals for the immune system: they help lower levels of inflammation-driving chemicals (called cytokines) such as IL-6 and TNF-α.

In plain words, Bifidobacterium and the substances they make help turn down the body's chronic “low‑grade” inflammation, so the immune system is less likely to stay on a constant, harmful simmer and can rest and recover and be prepared for the next full frontal assault from the flu.

What this means for you ... Aim for 1-3 servings of live-culture yogurt or kefir daily, focusing on strains with Bifidobacterium.

Plain yoghurt varieties with live cultures fare better than sweetened ones, where heat processing kills off the bugs, leading to minimal microbiome shifts. Kefir often packs more diverse Bifidobacterium, making it better for sustained gut benefits.

//

02 Prebiotics - The "Yoghurt Boosters"

The research report on Maria Branyas Morera's gut biome did not go much into the role of prebiotics, as compared to probiotics. Perhaps because she was known for eating a yoghurt-rich diet.

However prebiotics are essential for feeding our beneficial gut bacteria. Probiotics are live bacteria, some of which make it to the gut from dietary sources such as yoghurt. Prebiotics are food for the bacteria already in our gut, to help them grow - including the Bifidobacterium that make it into the gut from eating yoghurt.

Prebiotics boost beneficial bugs like Bifidobacterium and Faecalibacterium, resulting in better insulin sensitivity and reduced chronic inflammation.

Dietary prebiotics include onions and (semi-ripe) bananas, which stand out in research reports for strengthening our gut barrier and dialing down metabolic risks like diabetes, protect against leaky gut and support weight management.
​
Other regular foods to add to your daily diet include leeks, asparagus, wheat, garlic, chicory, oats, soybean and Jerusalem artichoke. These, when they reach our gut, are digested by Bifidobacterium accelerating its benefits for longevity.

⇒ I eat 2 or 3 bananas daily, just as they pass the "more green than yellow" stage. This is when they still have a good dose of inulin and are enjoyable to eat.​​​​

@Medium - Follow me on Medium ↗, covering ⭑food, ⭑brain, ⭑body, ⭑life

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03 The Timing: When Prebiotics Best Eaten

This is probably not something you would imagine, and it is not deeply studied, but the timing of when you eat prebiotics can make a significant different to their effectiveness in your gut.

So it makes sense to take them at the best time.

Try taking your prebiotic-rich foods in the evening — not because mornings are wrong, but because our gut bacteria follow a day–night pattern.

Fibre-loving bacteria (like Bifidobacterium) tend to be most active while you’re fasting, so if you eat prebiotics later in the day they get to work overnight. They make short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) — including butyrate — which help keep the gut lining strong, lower inflammation, and support better sleep and metabolism.

What this means for you ...

• Evening prebiotics let the right bacteria feed during their natural overnight peak.
• That overnight SCFA production can strengthen your gut barrier and may lower inflammation linked to age-related health issues.
• If you’re an early eater, morning prebiotics can still work, but for many people over 50, a bedtime or evening serving of fibre or fermented foods may give extra benefits.

I eat prebiotic resistant starches between 6 and 7 every day. This works because I don’t usually eat dinner. I eat nothing except a spinach and milk smoothie before I go to bed, so I am in effect "fasting" until the next morning.

​//

04 Do Workout Times Change Prebiotic Effectiveness?​​​​​​​​​​​​

Could exercise timing also change the effectiveness of prebiotics?

Firstly, let's ask why bother? Maria Branyas Morera's longevity was put down to 5 key factors: her genes, diet, social life, exercise, and gut bacteria.
​
You can't change your genes and you're probably doing least to improve your gut bacteria than the other factors. It turns out that exercise timing can improve the effectiveness of prebiotics.

Moderate endurance exercise is found to raise overall gut bacterial diversity, which is a good thing for resilience and health. Taking a small prebiotic dose—a "more green than yellow" banana or a fibre-rich whole orange—about an hour before exercise gives our gut bacteria an energy boost. This also helps them produce compounds which are known to reduce post-workout gut discomfort and fatigue.

Doing light strength training in the evening and pairing it with a prebiotic-rich evening snack supports a different but complementary effect. It improves nighttime fermentation of fibre that feeds SCFA-producing bacteria such as Coprococcus which helps muscle recovery. Because this workout is light and timed to your natural circadian rhythm, it's less likely to interfere with sleep while promoting recovery and long-term metabolic benefits.

⇒ Let's take advantage of Maria's contribution to science and longevity and booth our healthspan!

Thanks for reading!

>> My Latest Blog Post: Energise Your Golden Years: Boosting Your Desire to Exercise with Gut-Healthy Foods​

About the newsletter: Do you think it can be improved? Have a story idea? Want to share about the time you met Chris Hemsworth, or your questions about how to live longer better? Send those thoughts and more to me at walter@walteradamson.com

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