Health · Medical Research · 9 hrs ago
Tongue bacteria linked to differences in processing speed in a small study
Researchers studied 60 healthy adults in the UK and Belgium, split between younger and older age groups.
They tested memory, attention, emotion recognition and processing speed, and compared results with bacteria found on participants’ tongues.
People with more of one bacterium, Prevotella histicola, responded faster on some tests in both countries.
Links involving another bacterium varied by country and task, and more of a bacterium did not consistently mean better performance.
Age was the clearest predictor: older participants generally scored lower and responded more slowly.
The researchers suggested that oral bacteria may be connected to brain function, partly because some bacteria help process dietary nitrate into chemicals involved in blood vessel widening.
But the study found associations, not proof that bacteria caused differences in test results, and it did not test whether changing oral bacteria could improve cognition.
A small study found statistical links between tongue bacteria and cognitive test performance among 60 healthy adults in the UK and Belgium.
People with more Prevotella histicola responded faster on certain tests in both countries, though the tasks differed.
Associations involving Haemophilus parainfluenzae varied between countries and tests.
Age was the most consistent predictor: older age was associated with lower overall scores and slower responses in both countries.
The study did not show that oral bacteria caused differences in performance or that changing them could improve cognition.
- Who
- Researchers led by Joanna E. L'Heureux at the University of Exeter, with colleagues at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, studied 60 healthy adults.
- What
- The study found associations between tongue bacteria and performance on cognitive tests.
- When
- The study was published in PLOS ONE; its publication date is not stated. ScienceAlert published its report on 2026-10-11.
- Where
- Participants were in the UK and Belgium.
- Why
- Researchers examined whether oral microbes are associated with memory, attention and processing speed.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The new study did not show that this process caused the differences in test performance.
The research group published an earlier study on oral microbes and nitric oxide biomarkers in older adults, including people with mild cognitive impairment.
ScienceAlert reported on the study of tongue bacteria and cognitive test performance in healthy adults in the UK and Belgium.
- Participants
- 60 healthy adults
- Countries
- UK and Belgium
- Bacterium linked to faster responses
- Prevotella histicola
- Other bacterium studied
- Haemophilus parainfluenzae
- Study journal
- PLOS ONE
Sources
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