Diet and the Microbiome

The gut microbiota provides a range of ecologic, metabolic, and immunomodulatory functions relevant to health and well-being. The gut microbiota not only responds quickly to changes in diet, but this dynamic equilibrium may be managed to prevent and/or treat acute and chronic diseases. This article provides a working definition of the term “microbiome” and uses two examples of dietary interventions for the treatment of large bowel conditions to emphasize the links between diet and microbiome. There remains a need to develop a better functional understanding of the microbiota, if its management for clinical utility is to be fully realized.

Key points

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Diet has a significant impact on the structure-function activities of the gut microbiota.
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Advances have been made in showing how host phenotype is shaped by the gut microbiota, and how diet may provide the selective pressure, in a positive or negative way, to sustain this relationship.
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Diet modification offers the opportunity in a clinical setting to reshape the gut microbiota for the relief of symptoms associated with functional disorders, and the therapeutic treatment of some gastrointestinal and extraintestinal diseases.
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However, studies need to continue to advance from microbiota profiling to function-based approaches and analyses, and more rigorous study designs also need to be used, to better differentiate between the cause and effect relationships of diet-microbiome interactions, and to translate microbiome research to medicine.