India, June 18 -- People who live in the same home share many of the same bacteria in their mouths and guts, according to a new study published in Cell Press Blue.
"Who we decide to share our homes with can have a huge influence on our microbiomes, which has potential consequences for our health," commented first author Vitor Heidrich, a computational biologist at the University of Trento, Italy.
Researchers at the University of Trento studied the mouth and gut microbiomes of more than 400 people living in 207 households. They analyzed saliva and stool samples, allowing them to study bacteria in both the mouth and gut at the same time.
Instead of looking only at different types of bacteria, the scientists focused on specific strains. If ...