As some of my fellow classmates know, I own a cat (two actually.... but I have a favorite 😅). Her name is Anika and she is sitting on my lap as I write this post (she is acting as my editor so if you see any spelling errors... send your complaints to her).
All jokes aside, I stumbled upon an interesting article describing how cat ownership can influence an owner's gut microbiome!
Du et al., 2021 took 428 Caucasian individuals, 214 individuals owned a cat and 214 individuals were non pet owners. Of the 214 individuals in each group, 111 were female and 103 were male. The study asked the individuals to each fill out a self-reported survey regarding their age, sex, height, weight, lifestyle, dietary habits and diseases (Du et al., 2021). The participants then provided the researchers with a stool sample from which bacterial DNA was extracted, sequenced and then assessed for relative quantities. While the study did not control for diet, the researchers ensured that there was no significant difference between the diets of those with cats and those without cats (Du et al., 2021).
The results of the study are as follows:
The study found that owning a cat reduced relative levels in the microbiome of Alcaligenaceae and Pasteurellaceae while cat ownership also increased microbiome levels of Pseudomonadaceae and Enterobateriaceae (Du et al., 2021). The study did not find a significant difference in male cat owning individuals versus female cat owning individuals (Du et al., 2021). At the same time, the researchers found a significant difference between female cat owning individuals with a healthy BMI compared to female cat owning individuals classified as obese (Du et al., 2021). Specifically, they found that relative levels of Alcaligenaceae and Pseudomonadaceae were decreased in individuals with a healthy BMI compared to obese individuals (Du et al., 2021).
Now that I have thrown an incredible amount of fancy words at you, let me explain the significance of these relative bacteria levels.
Alcaligenaceae is a bacteria associated with diseases such as constipation and hyperuricemia, the elevated uric acid level in the blood (Pan et al., 2020). Paseurellaceae is known to be involved in granulomatosis, a disorder that causes inflammation of the blood vessels in the nose, lungs, and kidneys (Lamprecht et al., 2019). The researchers took this to indicate that cat ownership might be involved in mediating disease-related gut microbes. However, this must be taken with a grain of salt as increased levels of Enterobateriaceae and Pseudomonadaceae are known to contribute to disease as well (Chiodini et al., 2016).
Indeed this is an interesting theory and one that needs more investigation. The researchers themselves acknowledge the need for more research regarding how cat ownership might influence an owner's gut microbiome, and if this is actually a beneficial effect (Du et al., 2021).
But hopefully Anika is helping me become healthier!
References:
Chiodini, R. J., Dowd, S. E., Galandiuk, S., Davis, B., & Glassing, A. (2016). The predominant site of bacterial translocation across the intestinal mucosal barrier occurs at the advancing disease margin in Crohn's disease. Microbiology (Reading, England), 162(9), 1608–1619. https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.000336
Du, G., Huang, H., Zhu, Q., & Ying, L. (2021). Effects of cat ownership on the gut microbiota of owners. PloS one, 16(6), e0253133. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253133
This is so awesome! I have 2 cats, a boy and a girl and I would say they are pretty healthy weights. Although, they act like I've been starving them for years. I mean since getting them I am sure that they have contributed in some valuable way, and what better way than my gut microbiome? This article even says there may be a link between owning cats and a decrease in hearth attack or stroke. Of course, there is no conclusive evidence, but I think I will hold on to that pending information to help me feel better about being a crazy cat lady. Who doesn't love having a companion that doesn't pay rent, eats for free, doesn't play with expensive toys that are specific to them, begs for food at all hours of the day, watches you on the toilet, and rubs up on you when it's bed time or at the butt crack of dawn?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/forget-what-you-ve-heard-being-cat-lady-healthy-ncna789676
This is such an interesting read, thank you! As a self proclaimed "cat person," I definitely personally believe cats have a huge benefit on my health! However, I personally know that cats like to do their own thing and hangout on their own whereas dogs are more attached to their owner's hip. I looked a bit into this and found a super interesting article published in 2015 looking at cats and their owner's attachment styles. In this article, researchers found that cats and their owner's had a very different attachment style then dogs and their owners. In this study, they found that cats in general do not have a secure attachment to their owner and found that cats overall are not as dependent on their owner as compared to dogs (Potter & Miller, 2015). So although I am a complete cat lady, the reason I like cats is their independence and by this article you can see that cats do have very different attachment styles then dogs and do not rely on their owners as much. So even though I love cats and my cat loves me, they definitely do not need me. Funny how these suckers can control you and not need you at all.
ReplyDeletePotter, A., & Mills, D. S. (2015). Domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) do not show signs of secure attachment to their owners. PLoS One, 10(9), e0135109.
Thanks for sharing this blog post! It was a super interesting read, and though I am not a “cat person” like yourself, you have nudged me towards appreciating the role they play in our microbiome! Your blog made me interested in how potentially other household pets could also influence the human microbiome, and I came across an article stating that there is some evidence that pets can alter the gut microbiome for infants (Tun et al., 2017). This early exposure to household pets can reduce the risk of becoming overweight and developing allergic diseases in infants as soon as 3-4 months after delivery, especially after a c-section. Furthermore, they investigated the impact of pre-and postnatal pet exposure on infant microbiota by following a cohort of 746 infants. The infants’ mothers were to report on current or new household pets during the second trimester, third trimester, and 3 months postpartum (Tun et al., 2017). Over half of these infants were exposed to at least one household pet during the prenatal and/or postnatal periods and these infants had an abundant amount of the microbiota bacterias, Ruminococcus and Oscillospira, which are negatively associated with childhood diseases such as atopic dermatitis, asthma, and food allergies along with obesity (Tun et al., 2017). This was amazing to read and it blew my mind on how influenced our microbiome can be. Thus, perhaps this is a reason for me to get a furry friend!
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Tun, H. M., Konya, T., Takaro, T. K., Brook, J. R., Chari, R., Field, C. J., Guttman, D. S., Becker, A. B., Mandhane, P. J., Turvey, S. E., Subbarao, P., Sears, M. R., Scott, J. A., & Kozyrskyj, A. L. (2017). Exposure to household furry pets influences the gut microbiota of infants at 3–4 months following various birth scenarios. Microbiome, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-017-0254-x