Akkermansia Muciniphila: Hot Bug on The Block
What To Know About The Landscaper of The Gut Lining and The 2019 Nature Paper That Defined Its Talents
The jungle of the human gut microbiome hosts close to 1,000 of species of beneficial microbes.
When browsing the daily research publications in gut science, it’s occasionally tempting to think that each symbiont is being singled out one by one to be put into a bottle and sold with magical promises, Akkermansia muciniphila being a relatively recent newcomer. I’m seeing everywhere it in the literature, and in new probiotic/postbiotic products.
It turns out, this species of bacteria really is special. Here are four key points about it:
Akkermansia muciniphila lives in prime gut real estate. This bacteria lives in the mucus lining of the gut, where host–microbe communication happens.
It acts like the ‘landscaper of the gut’. It’s known for degrading the mucus layer which sounds like a bad thing, but it’s actually helpful. This bacterium acts like a caretaker for the gut lining, removing ‘weeds’ (old mucus ) and preparing the ‘beds’ (epithelial layer) for new healthy, protective mucus.
It’s a multi-system regulator (an apparently rare trait in gut microbes). As it encounters things in the mucus gut lining, Akkermansia starts to signal: it connects gut barrier integrity, immune modulation, metabolic regulation, endotoxin (LPS) control. This is likely due to it’s geographic location in the ‘weeds’ of the border between the gut and the internal environment of the body.
It does NOT need to be alive to exert beneficial effects in humans. This is huge for product manufacturing and shelf stability as a supportive gut health supplement, and when this was discovered and brought to market, we started to hear about ‘post-biotic’ products.
The most outstanding feature of Akkermansia muciniphila as a consumable product is it still has significant benefits EVEN WHEN IT’S DEAD.
The beneficial effects seem to come from molecules on its surface and within its structure, meaning when we take it in therapeutic form (pasteurized), it delivers a consistent dose of ‘signals’ that affect multiple body systems. (Similar to peptides.)
It has even more beneficial effects when it’s alive (landscaping away), which is why it’s fundamentally important for us to cultivate a healthy, live microbiome.
When it’s alive inside our gut, it’s keeping things neat and clean, and coordinating several systems simultaneously. This guy really is a rockstar.
Here’s a quick review some of the key points from the 2019 Nature study published by Depommier et al. that lead to products we’re seeing on the market now:
