University of Nevada, Las Vegas, researchers have identified a correlation between Alzheimer’s disease and specific gut microbiota populations. In a paper published in Scientific Reports titled “Genetic correlations between Alzheimer’s disease and gut microbiome genera,” the researchers explain how they narrowed the search down to a half dozen disease-correlated microbes, with one related to the most significant risk.

The study authors point to a growing body of research suggesting that disruptions in regular ratios and lower diversity of gut microbiota are associated with neurodegenerative diseases via neuroinflammatory processes across the microbiota-gut-brain axis. Previous studies have also indicated that Alzheimer’s patients have just such reduced microbiome diversity.

Researchers used polygenic risk scores, a risk assessment based on known genetic correlations to disease, of 119 microbiome species for each individual from a discovery sample of 1,278 cases with 1,293 controls. They found that 20 out of the 119 genera were significantly associated with Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis.

Among the 20 significant species, six were identified as likely risk species and the other 14 potentially protective species for Alzheimer’s diagnosis