Exploring the Role of the Gut Microbiome Across the Lifespan: Implications for Aging and Metabolic Disorders

The gut microbiome is widely accepted to play a crucial role in human health and disease. These intestinal microbiota are not only involved in gastrointestinal physiology, but they also contribute to essential immune modulation and metabolic homeostasis. Growing evidence suggests that alterations in the gut microbiota composition are linked to various metabolic disorders, including obesity and age-related diseases. Obesity, a global public health concern, is associated with shifts in microbial diversity and functionality, which influence energy extraction, fat storage, and systemic inflammation. Similarly, age-related disorders, such as neurodegenerative diseases, sarcopenia, and metabolic syndromes are linked to gut microbiome alterations that exacerbate chronic inflammation and metabolic dysfunction. Understanding the intricate relationship between the gut microbiome, obesity, and aging-related pathologies is essential for developing targeted microbiome-based interventions to mitigate these health challenges. In this review, after a brief summary of the development of the gut microbiome across the lifespan and its modulating factors, we will focus on the mechanisms underlying the relation between the gut microbiome and metabolic and aging-related disorders. Finally, the findings of interventional studies underscoring causality and the potential future directions will be discussed, with a focus on the possibility of modifying the progression of metabolic and age-related diseases through the modulation of the gut microbiome.