Recycling Metchnikoff: probiotics, the intestinal microbiome and the quest for long life

secondary literature · 2013

type:secondary literature

year:2013

citation:Mackowiak PA. 'Recycling Metchnikoff: probiotics, the intestinal microbiome and the quest for long life.' *Frontiers in Public Health* 2013;1:52. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2013.00052. PubMed: 24350221.

LINK

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3859987/

SUMMARY

Modern reassessment of Metchnikoff's longevity hypothesis by Philip A. Mackowiak. The paper restates Metchnikoff's claim that the disabilities of old age are caused by autotoxins from putrefactive bacteria in the colon (which he dismissed as a vestigial reservoir for waste), and that daily consumption of soured milk from childhood onward could delay senility. It notes that Metchnikoff died in 1916 at age 71 of heart failure, short of the long life he projected, and assesses which elements of his theory anticipate current microbiome science and which do not. Used in this case for the modern scientific evaluation of the autointoxication-and-sour-milk programme.

NOTES

Mackowiak’s 2013 Frontiers in Public Health paper is the appropriate citation for a modern clinical-science evaluation of Metchnikoff’s longevity programme. The paper summarizes the original theory faithfully (colonic putrefactive bacteria produce autotoxins; lactic-acid bacteria in soured milk suppress them; daily consumption from childhood delays senility) and then separates the parts that anticipated later microbiome research from the parts that did not survive scrutiny. It records that Metchnikoff himself died in 1916 at age 71, which the paper attributes to heart failure, well short of the extended span his programme implied. The article is open access via PubMed Central. Identifiers confirmed against the PubMed record (PMID 24350221) and the Crossref record (DOI 10.3389/fpubh.2013.00052).