Gut bacterium and metabolite extend healthy lifespan in aged mice

Give aged mice Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum, and several signs of aging ease. In experiments led by Zhang Weiqi and Yang Yungui at the China National Center for Bioinformation, the animals showed better memory, motor coordination and mood-related behaviors; chronic, low-grade inflammation also fell across six organs. The same pattern appeared when the team administered the bacterium’s molecule, 5-aminovaleric acid betaine (5-AVAB), directly.

The clue began in Chinese aging cohorts. Adults generally showed one of two broad gut-microbiome patterns, dominated either by Bacteroides or by Prevotella. Among people with the Prevotella pattern, beneficial bacteria disappeared faster with age, while microbes carrying virulence factors and antibiotic-resistance genes increased. One organism stood out across the cohorts: BP, the abbreviation for Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum, declined sharply with age in both men and women.

Using MicroAge, a microbiome aging clock, the researchers found that people with more BP tended to have a younger biological age. The association was consistently supported by several routine clinical health indicators. The team then identified 5-AVAB as the molecule most closely tied to BP’s protective effect; its circulating levels also decline with age in humans.

So what changes in practice? The work points to two concrete research routes: replenish a missing gut bacterium, or deliver the single metabolite that appears to carry its effects. although the study does not establish a human dose, benefit or treatment schedule.

For now, this is a laboratory result in mice, not a therapy for aging patients. The researchers were based at the China National Center for Bioinformation, the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Quzhou Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. Their study was published in Nature Aging on August 25, 2026; its relevance to human healthy lifespan still needs to be tested.