Dietary change sparks rapid gut bug revolution

• Autores: Linda Geddes
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2947, 2013, pág. 11
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Switching to a diet based exclusively on animals or plants triggers rapid changes to the microbes that rule one's gut. This knowledge could help fine-tune diets to improve health, as well as reduce the risk of illnesses like inflammatory bowel disease. To investigate whether the same was true for humans, Peter Turnbaugh at Harvard University and his colleagues asked 10 volunteers, including one vegetarian, to switch from their normal diet to either a diet based on meat, eggs and cheese, or one rich in grains, fruit and vegetables for five days. Each day the team sequenced the microbial RNA in the volunteers' feces to identify which gut microbes were present. This ability to switch probably helps the human hosts break down food after a dietary transition.