Volunteers sought to study gut microbiome and adolescent risk behaviours
The link between the gut microbiome and risk behaviours in adolescence such as reckless driving, excessive alcohol consumption, unprotected sexual activity, and the use of illicit substances - is still a developing area of research, but the available data points to a close relationship between gut bacteria and brain function. A team from the i3S (Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde) from the U.Porto (University of Porto), led by Joana Ferreira Gomes, seeks to identify these connections to develop prevention strategies that may reduce impulsivity and risk behaviours, and protect the emotional, mental, and physical health of adolescents. To this end, they are recruiting volunteers, aged between 12 and 18 years, who can register here.
Joana Ferreira Gomes’s team, which includes researchers from the Glial Cell Biology group at the i3S, will collect stool and blood samples from adolescents aged 12 to 18 years to analyse the composition of the gut microbiota and evaluate hormonal and inflammatory markers in the blood. “This data will then be cross-referenced with the results from questionnaires and behavioural tasks, which will allow us to assess the degree of impulsivity, the pursuit of intense experiences, emotional regulation, and the predisposition to take risks", the researcher reveals.
“It is known that the microbiome communicates with the central nervous system through the so-called gut-brain axis, influencing cognitive, emotional, and behavioural functions. Intestinal bacteria produce chemical substances that act as messengers and regulate mood, impulsivity, and decision-making” explains the researcher and professor at the FMUP (Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto).
According to Joana Ferreira Gomes, “these chemical substances are particularly relevant in adolescence, a phase marked by greater emotional instability and vulnerability to external factors, such as stress or social pressure.” Adolescence, Joana Ferreira Gomes specifies, is characterised by an increase in mortality and morbidity rates, primarily due to greater involvement in risk behaviours, such as reckless driving, excessive alcohol consumption, unprotected sexual activity, and the use of illicit substances, factors that significantly increase the probability of adverse health consequences.
Studies using animal models indicate that changes in the microbiota during this period - caused, for example, by the excessive use of antibiotics - can have long-lasting impacts on memory, behaviour, and mental health. Based on this evidence the researcher emphasises that “we want to deepen our understanding of how the microbiome can be a protective factor against risk behaviours.”
By mapping the interactions between the microbiome and the neuro-immuno-endocrine system and identifying their links with behaviours, “we will be able to develop earlier, more precise, and personalised prevention strategies,” Joana Ferreira Gomes stresses. In the long term, she adds, “this data can contribute to interventions based on microbiome modulation as a way to promote emotional balance, reduce impulsivity and harmful risk behaviours, and protect the mental and physical health of adolescents.”
This investigation, which is being developed within the scope of the MINDSET (Mapping INteractions of the biDirectional gut-brain axiS in adolEscent risk-Taking behaviour) project, was recently honoured with the National Grant for Research Projects in Microbiota, awarded by the Biocodex Microbiota Foundation.