Direct link found between diet ingredients and gut microbes

[Celebration]

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-link-diet-ingredients-gut-microbes.html

Globally, industrialized countries face an epidemic of obesity while poor nations continue to grapple with pervasive malnutrition, particularly among children. Increasing evidence suggests that both conditions may be linked, in part, to the collection of microbes that live in the intestine and help break down food our bodies otherwise couldn’t digest.

Two new studies by Jeffrey Gordon, MD, and colleagues at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, showcase the dynamic relationship between components of the diet and the intestinal microbiome. The research provides a foundation for improving human health by designing diets and foods that enhance microbes’ ability to capture specific food ingredients or that enrich the presence of beneficial microbes.

In the first study, published online May 19 in Science Express, the researchers demonstrated they could predict how a sampling of human gut microbes fluctuate in response to particular foods, such as carrots, pears, chicken and the like.

In the second paper, published May 20 in the journal Science, the scientists found that gut microbial communities in humans and in a diverse collection of mammals, including giraffes, baboons and lions, carry out core functions that are heavily influenced by whether the animals are carnivores, herbivores or omnivores.

[nilram]

1. K&R

[ehrnst]

2. Hence, the Specific Carbohydrate and GAPS diets. (nt)