You have probably read that high cholesterol can cause health problems, especially heart disease. Generally, a person's diet has been shown to have a direct impact on their cholesterol levels. Recently, involvement of the gut microbiome has also been reported to regulate our cholesterol levels.

Now, researchers at MIT and Harvard University have uncovered one way that some gut bacteria can influence cholesterol. They found a group of bacteria that can produce a compound called ismA, which breaks down cholesterol. They found that people with these bacteria had lower cholesterol levels in their blood and fecal samples than people who lacked bacteria that can manufacture ismA.

This finding may enable scientists to make new medications to manipulate cholesterol levels, or to treat people with high cholesterol with prebiotics to spur the growth of these cholesterol-digesting bacteria.