Jeroen Raes

At a glance

• Jeroen Raes is a Belgian bioinformatician and microbiome researcher, professor at KU Leuven and group leader at VIB.
• He is the face of the Flemish Gut Flora Project, in which thousands of Flemish people provided a stool sample and information on their diet, health and medication.
• The first major results appeared in Science (2016). They showed which factors shape gut-microbiome composition, the strongest being stool consistency, followed by medication, age and diet.
• His team later showed that a particular inflammation-associated microbiome type is more common in people with obesity, and less common in those taking statins.
• He also studies links between gut flora and conditions such as depression and inflammatory bowel disease, and is a well-known voice in the Flemish media.
• For longevity, his work matters because the gut microbiome is linked to inflammation and metabolism, both important in ageing.
• Takeaway: eat a varied, fibre-rich diet; commercial microbiome tests still offer little useful personal advice.