Stanford: Hundreds of Ancient Gut Microbes Lost in Industrialized Populations

Stanford researchers compared the gut microbiomes of Tanzania's Hadza hunter-gatherers and Bolivia's Tsimane and found they share 1,231 bacterial species despite different diets and millennia apart. About 60% of these species are rare or absent in industrialized populations, and divergence times of many species match ancient human migrations.

• Hadza and Tsimane share 1,231 bacterial species despite different diets
• Tsimane had ~1,400 species, nearly 90% also found in the Hadza
• About 60% of shared species are rare or absent in industrialized people
• Divergence times of many species match migrations out of Africa and into the Americas