Francisco Guarner, director of the Digestive System Research Unit at University Hospital Vall d’Hebron in Barcelona (Hospital Universitario Vall d’Hebron), granted us an interview during the 4th Gut Microbiota for Health World Summit 2015 to discuss the microbiota and humans.
Gut Health in Early Life: Two guides cover the role of the microbiota in gastrointestinal health and disease
12 Aug 2015by GMFH Editing Team
Digestion is extraordinarily complex, and there is a long list of ways it can go wrong. From constipation to bloating, digestive disorders can cause significant distress for infants and children as they develop.
Tremaroli et al. reported that bariatric surgery for obesity, whether gastric bypass or vertical banded gastroplasty, induced a significant and sustained change in the gut microbiome of 14 women for at least a decade.
Bifidobacteria is a key marker of a healthy gut flora in infants. A Brazilian study of 49 newborns -- 24 full-term and 25 pre-term (31.2 weeks) -- explored the prevalence and concentration of bifidobacteria in stools of one-month-old newborns using qPCR.
A team of scientists led by Premysl Bercik, Associate Professor of Medicine at McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, carried out two sets of experiments with mice with the goal of studying the effect of gut microbiota on behaviour in an established model of anxiety and depression.
Inflammatory bowel disease: gut microbiota-derived metabolites reflect inflammation
29 Jul 2015by GMFH Editing Team
Differences in the composition of gut microbiota in health and disease are providing new ways of deciphering mechanisms of digestive diseases, e.g. inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Another way of exploring the role of gut microbiota in health and disease is to monitor the generated metabolites.
The 4th Gut Microbiota for Health World Summit 2015 gave us the opportunity to talk to Joël Doré, Research Director at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - INRA) about the gut microbiota and its role as a “microbial ID”.
Difference in gut fungi populations found in children with inflammatory bowel disease
27 Jul 2015by GMFH Editing Team
Digestive disorders, from gut discomfort to inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and cancer, are rising in many countries. Research and clinical studies on the interaction of gut microbiota and digestive health, are providing stimulating data. However, their connection is not fully understood and gut fungi have recently been suggested to play a role as well.
Pawnobes’: Cultivated commensal microbes that impact host phenotype
21 Jul 2015by GMFH Editing Team
Thousands of years ago, humans went beyond hunting and gathering and began purposefully selecting and growing the most beneficial plants; what we know as the agricultural revolution was born. Is it possible that cultivating the microbiome would create a comparable paradigm shift?
Maybe men are from Mars and women are from Venus… but what about their gut microbiota?
16 Jul 2015by GMFH Editing Team
The study’s authors, from the New York University School of Medicine, New York University Perlmutter Cancer Center, US National Cancer Institute and New York Veterans Affairs Medical Center, argue that these factors, along with sex, may have an impact on the microbiota due to similar hormonal mechanisms.
