In a recent Discover Magazine article on the relationship between the human microbiome and sleep apnea, Andrew Goldberg, MD, MSCE, FACS of Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF OHNS) was featured. Dr. Goldberg is Professor and Vice Chair as well as the Director, Division of Rhinology and Sinus Surgery. His research in microbial ecology principally includes study of inflammation and the microbiome in sinusitis and asthma and now includes the burgeoning field of the interaction of the microbiome and sleep.
In the article, Dr. Goldberg discussed research into sleep apnea and its relationship to microbiome. Research shows that the relationship is bidirectional – the microbiome influences sleep and sleep disruption influences the microbiome. The article goes on to explore ways to improve sleep by taking care of gut health, with Dr. Goldberg's commentary on the importance of both sleep hygiene and the gut microbiota for overall health.
In a landmark review article in the journal Sleep published in March 2021, Dr. Goldberg and colleagues wrote that probiotics, prebiotics and microbiota transplantation could all help treat comorbidities associated with sleep apnea, such as hypertension, heart disease and atherosclerosis.
"We are in the absolute infancy of understanding the influence of the microbiome on the body in health and disease," says Dr. Goldberg. The microbiome appears to interact with every system – immune, neurologic, cardiovascular, metabolic – and the list goes on.
"Unfortunately, the ways that we compare the composition of one microbiome with another are imperfect," says Dr. Goldberg in the article. "Our computational methods are blunt instruments comparing hundreds of microbes in one group with hundreds of microbes in another, not always knowing which are important in community function. Marrying the composition of the microbiome with function and distant effects in a system as complex as the human body and its environment is a challenge."
As Director of Rhinology and Sinus Surgery, Dr. Goldberg specializes in nasal polyps, sinusitis, cerebrospinal fluid leak, inverted papilloma and orbital surgery.
Click here to read the Discover Magazine article with Dr. Goldberg's interview.
