This important paper increased our scientific understanding of the mechanism by which a host's circadian clock can affect metabolism and health. Leone, et al. showed that both gut microbiota composition and metabolite production fluctuated daily in mice and that these changes were associated with host circadian rhythms and were modifiable by diet.
Finding connections between the microbiome, the metabolome, and the immune system
2 Nov 2015by Paul Enck
Microbes in the gut produce a huge range of metabolites, which affect various processes in the host. Knowledge about the metabolome is limited by current experimental and computational tools, but even now, interconnections are emerging between the microbiome, the metabolome, and immunological reponses -- for instance, the possible role of metabolites in immune system pattern recognition.
MyNewGut workshop lays out plans for re-figuring fibre recommendations
25 Sep 2015by Kristina Campbell
As MyNewGut, a research initiative involving thirty organizations from fifteen countries, continued to carry out its research program on prebiotic fibres and the gut microbiota, project participants held a workshop before the International Dietary Fibre Conference 2015 in Paris.
The Third International Congress of Translational Research in Human Nutrition (ICTRHN) took place in Clermont-Ferrand, France, on June 26 & 27, 2015.
PreProSim Congress Report: A role for prebiotics, probiotics, and synbiotics in metabolic disorders and obesity
1 Sep 2015by Fernando Aspiroz
At the second PreProSim -- Brazilian Congress on Pre, Pro and Synbiotics --, several sessions on June 16th covered the topic of metabolic disorders and obesity.
Liping Zhao and colleagues, in their recent paper on a dietary intervention for simple and genetic obesity, discussed evidence for the existence of gut microbiota 'guilds': bacterial genomes within the gut ecosystem that responded to the dietary intervention as a group.
Previous studies have shown both genetics and the gut microbiome influence a host's metabolic phenotype.
The impact of dietary emulsifiers on gut microbiota and gut barrier function
17 Aug 2015by Patrice D. Cani
A recent study (Chassaing, et al.) showed that two dietary emulsifiers -- carboxymethylcellulose and polysorbate-80 -- induced gut microbiota alteration and gut barrier dysfunction in mice, resulting in weight gain, low-grade inflammation, and metabolic disorders.
Chinese research shows diet can alter gut microbiota to treat obesity
13 Aug 2015by Kristina Campbell
A recent study lent insight into the role of the microbiota in both diet-related and genetic obesity in humans.
Two primary goals of translational microbiota research are (1) to alter the gut microbiota in a beneficial manner and (2) to do so in a way that lasts.