Living in a poorer neighborhood in the could impact the make-up of your gut microbiome, potentially leading to worse health.
Image Credit: Scientific Frontline
Scientific Frontline: Extended "At a Glance" Summary: The Gut Microbiome and Social Deprivation
The Core Concept: Living in socially deprived neighborhoods is directly correlated with a less diverse gut microbiome, notably characterized by a deficiency in essential, short-chain fatty acid-producing bacteria.
Key Distinction/Mechanism: While diet is a known modifier of gut health, this mechanism highlights how broader environmental and socioeconomic stressors (e.g., chronic stress, financial strain, and resource scarcity) biologically alter gut composition. Specifically, social deprivation is linked to a reduction in butyrate-producing bacterial species—such as Lawsonibacter and Intestinimonas massiliensis—which are critical for controlling inflammation, maintaining energy balance, and regulating communication between the gut and the brain.
Origin/History: A collaborative study published in February 2026 in npj biofilms and microbiomes by researchers from King's College London and the University of Nottingham established this link. The study analyzed the gut profiles of 1,390 participants from the TwinsUK registry and mapped them against geographical socioeconomic status.
Major Frameworks/Components:
- Townsend Deprivation Index: A recognized sociological metric used in the study to quantify material deprivation based on practical indicators such as unemployment, household overcrowding, and asset ownership.
- Butyrate Production: The synthesis of specific short-chain fatty acids within the gut necessary for regulating blood sugar, metabolism, and immune system function.
- The Gut-Brain Axis: The biochemical signaling network connecting the gastrointestinal tract and the central nervous system, demonstrating how altered microbial diversity can translate social disadvantage into mental health conditions like anxiety.
- Biological Embedding of Social Determinants: The overarching framework demonstrating how external socioeconomic adversity is translated into internal, measurable metabolic and immune system vulnerabilities.
Branch of Science: Molecular Epidemiology, Microbiology, Public Health, and Sociology.
Future Application: The development of targeted public health interventions tailored to disadvantaged communities. This includes subsidized, fiber-rich dietary initiatives and precision probiotic therapies designed specifically to replenish butyrate-producing bacteria and mitigate the physical and mental toll of socioeconomic stress.
Why It Matters: This research identifies a concrete biological pathway that explains how poverty and social disadvantage physically manifest as chronic health inequalities. By understanding this microbial mechanism, medical professionals and policymakers gain actionable, gut-focused targets to help break the cycle linking socioeconomic deprivation to adverse metabolic and mental health outcomes.
New research, led by King’s College London and the University of Nottingham, found that people living in areas of higher social deprivation have a less diverse range of bacteria in their gut.
The study, published in npj biofilms and microbiomes, also found people in these areas have less short-chain fatty acid-producing bacteria – which are vital for reducing inflammation and regulating energy metabolism.
These differences in gut bacteria could lead to worse health outcomes including mental health and metabolic health (which helps manage people’s energy levels), immune system function, and mood stability.
In particular, the research found a link between those in areas of higher deprivation who had worse gut microbiomes and mental health conditions such as anxiety.
In the study, the researchers analyzed the gut bacteria of 1,390 female twin individuals from TwinsUK registry, along with their residential postcodes to identify the participants’ area level socioeconomic status.
To measure the deprivation of an area they primarily used the well-established Townsend Deprivation Index. The Townsend Deprivation Index measures deprivation using practical indicators like unemployment, overcrowding, and home or car ownership to measure material deprivation of different areas.
The researchers identified 12 bacterial species linked to living in more deprived areas. Two of these, Lawsonibacter and Intestinimonas massiliensis, were negatively associated not only with deprivation, but also with higher rates of anxiety and diabetes. These two bacteria normally produce butyrate, a helpful substance in the gut that supports blood sugar control, energy balance, and communication between the gut and the brain. Changes in these bacteria may help explain how social disadvantages could affect both mental and physical health.
The findings suggest that the gut microbiome may play a role in the connections between social deprivation and adverse health outcomes. Researchers hope that interventions such as fibre-rich diets that support butyrate-producing bacteria, and targeted probiotic approaches to improve gut health, could help counter some of the harmful effects that socioeconomic stress has on a person’s mental and physical wellbeing.
Dr Yu Lin, first author of the study and a Research Associate at King’s College London, said: “The gut microbiome might be one of the ways our environment and social circumstances, such as chronic stress, financial strain, access to healthy food, affect both our mental health and our metabolic health. These microbes, in turn, influence how the body process energy and communicates with the brain. In other words, the bacteria in our gut could help explain how, where we live, and the stresses we face shape our overall well-being. We hope that our findings will contribute to new strategies for supporting health in disadvantaged communities.”
Dr Ana Valdes, Professor of Molecular Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, said: "By uncovering how social deprivation translates into biological changes – fundamentally altering our gut microbiome composition – we can now design targeted interventions to reverse some of these health inequalities. Understanding these pathways gives us actionable targets, whether through dietary fiber, probiotics, or other gut-focused strategies, to break the cycle linking poverty to poor health outcomes.”
Funding: This research was funded in whole, or in part, by the UKRI (MR/Y010175/1, MR/T004142/1) and by the Wellcome Leap Dynamic Resilience Programme (co-funded by Temasek Trust).
Published in journal: Biofilms and Microbiomes
Title: Gut microbiome composition and function reflect socioeconomic deprivation
Authors: Yu Lin, Afroditi Kouraki, Nathan J. Cheetham, Panayiotis Louca, Ruth CE Bowyer, Robert Pope, Francesco Asnicar, Xinyuan Zhang, Alessia Visconti, Mario Falchi, Tim D. Spector, Nicola Segata, Ana M. Valdes, and Cristina Menni
Source/Credit: King’s College London
Reference Number: mcb022526_01
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