# Akkermansia muciniphila

Akkermansia muciniphila is a Gram-negative gut bacterium that eats mucin and lives in your intestinal mucus layer. It is usually a small share of a healthy microbiome (under 1% to a few percent), and it varies a lot between people. By continuously digesting mucin, it actually prompts your gut to renew that mucus layer. That strengthens the barrier between gut contents and your gut wall. Lower levels go with obesity, insulin resistance, and inflammatory bowel disease in many studies, though cause is not proven. Depommier et al. (Nat Med 2019) ran a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Surprisingly, the pasteurized (heat-killed) form, not the live one, improved insulin sensitivity and lowered insulin in overweight adults. (There was also a non-significant trend toward less body weight and fat.) The pasteurized form also beat the live one in mouse models. A key mediator is an outer-membrane protein, Amuc_1100 (found by Plovier et al., Nat Med 2017). It signals through TLR2. Akkermansia is now sold as a novel-food supplement in the EU. But the clinical evidence is still limited to early trials.

## Sources

- Depommier C, Everard A, Druart C, Plovier H, Van Hul M, Vieira-Silva S, et al.. (2019). Supplementation with Akkermansia muciniphila in overweight and obese human volunteers: a proof-of-concept exploratory study. Nature Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-019-0495-2
- Plovier H, Everard A, Druart C, Depommier C, Van Hul M, Geurts L, et al.. (2017). A purified membrane protein from Akkermansia muciniphila or the pasteurized bacterium improves metabolism in obese and diabetic mice. Nature Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.4236

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_Canonical: https://longevity-switzerland.com/en/glossary/akkermansia-muciniphila · Part of Longevity Cities · Updated 2026-06-22_