The DOI matches its Crossref record; 22 of the 22 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Close social relationships correlate with human gut microbiota composition
Open accessAbstract
Social relationships shape human health and mortality via behavioral, psychosocial, and physiological mechanisms, including inflammatory and immune responses. Though not tested in human studies, recent primate studies indicate that the gut microbiome may also be a biological mechanism linking relationships to health. Integrating microbiota data into the 60-year-old Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, we found that socialness with family and friends is associated with differences in the human fecal microbiota. Analysis of spouse (N = 94) and sibling pairs (N = 83) further revealed that spouses have more similar microbiota and more bacterial taxa in common than siblings, with no observed differences between sibling and unrelated pairs. These differences held even after accounting for dietary factors. The differences between unrelated individuals and married couples was driven entirely by couples who reported close relationships; there were no differences in similarity between couples reporting somewhat close relationships and unrelated individuals. Moreover, married individuals harbor microbial communities of greater diversity and richness relative to those living alone, with the greatest diversity among couples reporting close relationships, which is notable given decades of research documenting the health benefits of marriage. These results suggest that human interactions, especially sustained, close marital relationships, influence the gut microbiota.
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Self-citationGenetic determinants of gut microbiota composition and bile acid profiles in mice
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Metadata
- Authors
- Dill-McFarland, K. A., Tang, Z.-Z., Kemis, J. H., Kerby, R. L., Chen, G., Palloni, A., Sorenson, T., Rey, F. E., & Herd, P.
- Venue
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2019-01-24
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 703-703
- ISSN
- 2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2916609909
- Cited by
- 233
- References
- 22
- FWCI
- 9.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
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- Dill-McFarland, K. A., Tang, Z.-Z., Kemis, J. H., Kerby, R. L., Chen, G., Palloni, A., Sorenson, T., Rey, F. E., & Herd, P. (2019). Close social relationships correlate with human gut microbiota composition. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-37298-9
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