As per the new nature-versus-nature study carried out to establish the link between the bacteria in the gut and its effect on the health, diet may prove to be a strong factor than the genes.
Gene’s play a very important role in many aspects of our body, but the new study says that diet many be even more important in determining the relative abundance of the health promoting bacteria present in the gut.
The study was carried out at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) which involved research on mice and whose findings were published online in the journal Cell Host and Microbe.
Gut bacteria vastly outnumber our own cells, and the microbial species normally dwelling within us throughout our lives can affect our health by influencing our metabolism and perhaps even our behavior.
The mix of these bacteria and their number varies considerably from person to person and also over time. It is still not clear whether this variation is due mostly to genes (nature), or things we can change (nurture), such as diet and lifestyle.
According to Peter Turnbaugh, an assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF),
“In a healthy adult, the same strains and species of gut microbes can live in the gut for years, while their relative abundance – the sizes of their populations – can change quite a lot over time. These new results emphasize that, unlike a mammalian genome – which is relatively constant – the microbial genomes that comprise the gut microbiome are relatively plastic.”
He further added that “one day it may be possible to treat diseases by shaping the balance of bacteria in the gut. And these new findings suggest it may not be necessary to tailor treatments differently for each person, because the microbial response to a given diet may be similar for many people’s microbial communities.”
The study was carried out on hundreds of mice with wide range of well-defined genetic backgrounds. The researchers fed the mice two different diets, altering between a high-fat, high-sugar diet (14.8% protein, 44.6% fat and 40.6% carbohydrate) and a low-fat, plant-based diet (22.2% protein, 16.0% fat and 61.7% carbohydrate).
The study team found that switching mice to a high-sugar, high-fat diet reshaped the abundance of the community of microbes in the gut to a new, stable makeup within three days, in a reproducible manner that was largely independent of genetic differences among individual mice.
It was also reported that the mix of gut microbes changed quickly when diets varied between vegan and animal-based – after just a few days. Also switching diet changed gut mix in days, showed influence lasts for months.
Regardless of the mice’s genetic makeup, the high-fat, high-sugar diet increased the abundance of Firmicutes bacteria and reduced the abundance of Bacteroidetes bacteria.
Referring to the past study carried out by Prof.Turnbaugh and his team he says that “We have shown in the past that alterations to the gut microbiota in response to a high-fat, high-sugar diet contribute to adiposity, and we have been very interested in how the metabolic activity of these organisms is affected by diet.”
“Whether changes in the microbial community arise directly from the altered nutrient environment in the gastrointestinal tract, or indirectly due to effects of altered diets on host physiology that is consistent across genotypes remains a fascinating area for future inquiry.”
The researchers also found that when the mice were returned to their original diet, the changes in the microbial flora were largely reversed. Thus it was concluded that the gut microbial flora was influenced by the past as well as present diets.
Prof. Turnbaugh further explains that:
“Repeated dietary shifts demonstrated that most changes to the gut microbiota are reversible. But we also identified bacterial species whose abundance depends on prior consumption.”
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About Ruchira Dhoke
A qualified medical microbiologist with an avidity to read enchant a deep passion for creating a good impacting masterpiece with my words .I am very fond of good old English literature and like listening to music and paint in my free time.
