Personalized Nutrition and the Microbiome

Personalized Nutrition and the Microbiome The intersection of personalized nutrition and the human microbiome represents an exciting new science. Within this emerging and complex arena, the human microbiome and the impact of dietary components has been the target of approximately 4,000 publications over the past four decades. The field of paleomicrobiology recently reported—based on findings from frozen and mummified human remains as well as desiccated feces and dental calculus— that the ancient microbiome provides an interesting portrait of early dietary behaviors and perhaps intercontinental migratory patterns (Warinner et al. 2015). Some of the microbiota findings suggest humans may experience diverse seasonal variations and other perturbations, such as antibiotic treatments and geographical settings, which may also impact modern and mobile societies (Smits et al. 2017). Animal models, short-term intervention studies, and epidemiological evidence suggest modulation of the gut microbiome through dietary interventions may impact a variety of noncommunicable diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, inflammatory conditions, cardiovascular health, and some forms of cancer (Holmes et al. 2011). A more recent review noted variations in bacterial genera, such as Bifidobacteria, Lactobacillus, Bacteroides, and Clostridium, are associated with numerous physiological changes that may impact clinical outcomes and general health (Singh et al. 2017, Li et al. 2017). Additional evidence indicates that diet and genomes interact in complex fashion. While the emerging discipline of nutrigenetics is shedding significant illumination on how an individual’s genetic makeup predisposes for dietary susceptibility, nutrigenomics is clarifying the ways in which nutrition influences the expression of the genome and its impact on health outcomes. For example, the management of conditions such as those associated with metabolic syndrome may represent opportunities at the personalized nutrition and human gut microbiome intersection (de Toro-Martin et al. 2017). The shaping of one’s ability to cope with some forms of cancer (Seidel et al. 2017), the metabolism of bioactives (Koppel et al. 2017), the management of gut health (Panduro et al. 2017), and even maturation of an infant’s immune system (MacPherson et al. 2017) are also at this complex interface. Those in the Gordon Laboratory at Washington University in St. Louis have been studying the influence of specific bacteria on energy metabolism and the predisposition to obesity for more than a decade (Turnbaugh et al. 2006). These data from genetically obese mice (leptin deficient model) suggest differences in distal