GoKawiilGut bacterium Bacteroides uniformis found to cut arterial plaque in mice
Researchers at Sun Yat-sen University identified a molecule produced by the gut microbe Bacteroides uniformis that lowered cholesterol and reduced arterial plaque by roughly half in mice, according to a study published in Nature. The compound appears to act through the same biological pathway used by statins, the cholesterol-lowering drugs taken by hundreds of millions of people.
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The findings could point to a new, microbiome-based route for tackling atherosclerosis, which remains the world's leading cause of death and which statins alone fail to adequately treat in nearly half of advanced patients. Cardiovascular specialist Ben Chen says the work offers evidence of a potentially causal mechanism linking gut microbes to vascular health, though translation from mice to effective human therapies remains uncertain.
- Bacteroides uniformis produces a molecule that cut arterial plaque by about 50% in mice
- The compound works via the same mechanism as statin drugs
- Researchers identified the microbe by comparing gut flora in people with and without heart disease
Source: nature.com — Kozlov, 2026-10-07
Published there as: “Revealed: How this common gut microbe protects against heart disease”
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