{"id":32883,"date":"2026-10-11T17:32:51","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T14:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/?p=32883"},"modified":"2026-10-11T17:32:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T14:32:51","slug":"bakterii-yazyka-shvydkist-myslennia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/science-tech\/bakterii-yazyka-shvydkist-myslennia\/","title":{"rendered":"Bacteria on the tongue have been linked to the speed of thought"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"news-lead\">Researchers from the University of Exeter and the Free University of Brussels have identified a link between the bacterial composition on the tongue and reaction times in certain cognitive tests among 60 healthy adults. A higher proportion of Prevotella histicola in both groups was associated with faster response times; however, the study does not prove that the microbiota directly affects the brain.<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-summary-box\">\n<p><strong>Briefly about the main points<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Participants with a higher proportion of Prevotella histicola completed individual tasks more quickly.<\/li>\n<li>The specific tests in which a link was found differed between the two countries.<\/li>\n<li>For Haemophilus parainfluenzae, the results were mixed.<\/li>\n<li>The nitrate mechanism is regarded as a hypothesis rather than an established cause.<\/li>\n<li>The authors plan to test these patterns in larger studies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>How the research was carried out<\/h2>\n<p>The study involved 30 people from Exeter and 30 from Brussels. Each group comprised 15 young adults and 15 older adults. None of them smoked, they were all in good health, and they had undergone a preliminary assessment of their cognitive function.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers took samples from the surface of the tongue, blood and saliva, and also measured blood pressure. The composition of the bacterial communities was determined by analysing genetic material. The data were collected between 2017 and 2019.<\/p>\n<p>The participants completed ten tasks in English or Dutch. The tests assessed memory, attention, emotional recognition, abstract thinking, visual learning and reaction time.<\/p>\n<h2>The associations were not the same for all tasks<\/h2>\n<p>A common pattern observed in both groups was a higher proportion of Prevotella histicola in people who responded more quickly in certain tasks. However, the set of tests in which this association was observed differed between the British and Belgian participants.<\/p>\n<p>The picture for Haemophilus parainfluenzae was more complex. In the Belgian group, a higher proportion of it was associated with faster reaction times during emotion recognition and visual learning, as well as with greater working memory accuracy.<\/p>\n<p>\u0423 <a href=\"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/world\/shahed-kometa-m4-ataka-baza-brytanii-kipr\/\">British<\/a> In this group, the same bacterium was associated with faster responses to some tasks, but with slower recognition of emotions. Consequently, a higher proportion of a particular microorganism did not correlate with better results across all tests.<\/p>\n<h2>The nitrate pathway remains merely a possible link<\/h2>\n<p>The authors considered the role of oral bacteria in the conversion of dietary nitrates as one possible mechanism. Nitrates are found, in particular, in beetroot and leafy vegetables, and certain bacteria are capable of converting them into nitrites.<\/p>\n<p>The body is capable of using nitrites to produce nitric oxide, which helps to dilate blood vessels. As blood supply is important for brain function, this process may explain some of the associations identified. However, measurements of nitrates and nitrites yielded mixed results and did not establish the cause of the differences in the test results.<\/p>\n<h2>Age-related and geographical differences require further investigation<\/h2>\n<p>The composition of the microbiota differed between participants from the UK and Belgium. At the same time, older people had higher levels of bacteria of the genera Treponema and Tannerella; older age was also associated with lower overall scores and slower responses.<\/p>\n<p>The study compared different individuals rather than tracking how a single person\u2019s microbiota and cognitive function change with age. Nor did the authors investigate whether deliberately altering the bacteria in the mouth could improve memory or prevent dementia. The results were published on 5 October 2026 in PLOS ONE; the next step should be larger studies to investigate the stability of the identified links and their causes.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Participants with different compositions of bacteria on their tongues performed differently on cognitive tests; the results need to be verified in larger groups.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":207433355,"featured_media":32885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_description":"\u0423\u0447\u0430\u0441\u043d\u0438\u043a\u0438 \u0437 \u0440\u0456\u0437\u043d\u0438\u043c \u0441\u043a\u043b\u0430\u0434\u043e\u043c \u0431\u0430\u043a\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0456\u0439 \u044f\u0437\u0438\u043a\u0430 \u043f\u043e-\u0440\u0456\u0437\u043d\u043e\u043c\u0443 \u0432\u0438\u043a\u043e\u043d\u0443\u0432\u0430\u043b\u0438 \u043a\u043e\u0433\u043d\u0456\u0442\u0438\u0432\u043d\u0456 \u0442\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0438; \u0440\u0435\u0437\u0443\u043b\u044c\u0442\u0430\u0442\u0438 \u043f\u043e\u0442\u0440\u0435\u0431\u0443\u044e\u0442\u044c \u043f\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0432\u0456\u0440\u043a\u0438 \u0443 \u0431\u0456\u043b\u044c\u0448\u0438\u0445 \u0433\u0440\u0443\u043f\u0430\u0445.","rank_math_title":"\u0411\u0430\u043a\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0456\u0457 \u043d\u0430 \u044f\u0437\u0438\u043a\u0443 \u0456 \u0448\u0432\u0438\u0434\u043a\u0456\u0441\u0442\u044c \u043c\u0438\u0441\u043b\u0435\u043d\u043d\u044f: \u0449\u043e \u0432\u0438\u044f\u0432\u0438\u043b\u0438","rank_math_focus_keyword":"\u042f\u0437\u0438\u043a","td_subtitle":"","subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[805620],"tags":[806764],"class_list":["post-32883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science-tech","tag-806764"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207433355"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32883"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32890,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32883\/revisions\/32890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}