Heat-treated Lactiplantibacillus plantarum MYO Improves Muscle Strength and Modulates Gut Microbiota in Older Adults with Reduced Muscle Strength.

Twelve weeks of heat-treated Lactiplantibacillus plantarum MYO (LPMYO) supplementation significantly improved quadriceps muscle strength compared with placebo in older adults with reduced muscle strength.

• The study was a clinical trial with a placebo group in older adults with reduced muscle strength.
• The intervention lasted 12 weeks.
• The abstract reports the improvement as significant versus placebo but gives no effect sizes or p-values.

Heat-treated LPMYO supplementation significantly improved hand grip strength compared with placebo.

• Hand grip strength was one of the primary muscle outcomes assessed.
• Improvement was significant relative to the placebo group after 12 weeks.
• The abstract does not report numeric values.

Heat-treated LPMYO supplementation significantly improved the muscle quality index (MQI) compared with placebo.

• MQI was assessed alongside quadriceps and hand grip strength.
• The improvement was significant versus placebo after 12 weeks.
• The authors conclude that LPMYO improved both muscle strength and muscle quality.

Heat-treated LPMYO supplementation significantly increased the abundance of several potentially beneficial gut bacteria.

• The increased taxa were Faecalibacterium, Lachnospira, Turicibacter, Megasphaera, and the [Eubacterium]_ventriosum group.
• The increases were described as significant after supplementation.

Turicibacter and Megasphaera abundance showed positive correlations with muscle parameters.

• The correlation analysis examined the relationship between muscle strength measures and gut microbiota.
• Of the taxa that increased, Turicibacter and Megasphaera were the ones noted as correlated with muscle parameters.

Predicted microbial functions related to amino acid metabolism, nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism, and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) were enriched after heat-treated LPMYO supplementation.

• These are predicted (inferred) functional profiles of the microbiota, not directly measured metabolic outputs.
• Enrichment was observed following supplementation.

The authors conclude that the muscle-strengthening effects of heat-treated LPMYO may be associated with alterations in the gut microbiota.

• This interpretation rests on microbiota changes, correlations with muscle parameters, and predicted functional enrichment.
• The study was conducted because clinical evidence linking gut microbiota and muscle strength has been limited.