Bowel carotenoids are related to stroke

Swedish scientists believe that the amount of carotenoids in the human intestines affects stroke, according to ANI.

According to scientists at Chalmers University of Technology, Sahlgrenska Institute and University of Gothenburg (Sweden), our bodies contain more than 10 times more bacterial cells than human cells. Most of these bacteria are found in the intestine.

These bacteria contain a very large number of genes and are collectively referred to as the intestinal metagenome gene.

Carotenoids in intestinal bacteria work to prevent stroke

The researchers compared a group of stroke patients to a healthy group of subjects and found a big difference in the number of their intestinal bacteria.

In particular, they found that the metagenome gene plays a role in the production of carotenoids found in intestinal bacteria of healthy subjects. Healthy subjects also had significantly higher levels of carotenoid in their blood than stroke patients.

Carotenoids are a type of antioxidant and are absorbed into the body through diet.

Jens Nielsen, a professor of Biology at Chalmers, said that in the future, a microbial product that produces intestinal carotenoids should be studied to help prevent the deadly disease.

The study was published in Nature Communications.