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Research: First Gut Microbiome Map for Personalized Food Responses

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https://neurosciencenews.com/microbiome-food-map-27791/

Journal summary: https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(24)00967-X

First Gut Microbiome Map for Personalized Food Responses
FeaturedNeuroscience
·October 5, 2024

Summary: A recent study has mapped how molecules in food interact with 
gut bacteria, revealing why people respond differently to the same 
diets. By examining 150 dietary compounds, researchers found that these 
molecules can reshape gut microbiomes in some individuals, while having 
little effect in others.

This breakthrough could enable personalized nutrition strategies to 
better manage health risks. The findings offer a deeper understanding of 
the gut microbiome’s role in health and disease.

Key Facts:

     Gut bacteria respond differently to the same food molecules in 
different people.
     The study mapped 150 food compounds’ effects on gut microbiomes.
     This research could lead to personalized dietary recommendations 
for better health.

“Gut health” is a growing buzzword for foodies and dietitians alike—and 
with good reason. The trillions of microbes and bacteria living in our 
gut are implicated in numerous aspects of health and disease.

Scholars at the Yale Microbial Sciences Institute have taken an 
important step toward evidence-driven personalized nutrition tailored to 
individual gut health needs.

The lab of Andrew Goodman has generated the first systematic map to show 
how the molecules in certain foods interact with our unique gut bacteria.
This shows different foods.

Their findings are published in the journal Cell.

Building on earlier research examining medical drugs and gut bacteria, 
the scientists set out to understand why different people respond 
differently to the same foods.

“We know that diet is a huge component of our health and shapes our 
microbiome,” explained Elizabeth Culp, a former postdoctoral fellow in 
the Goodman Lab and first author of the study.

While a large body of work has described the effects of “macronutrients” 
such as fiber on our gut microbiomes, surprisingly little is known about 
how other small molecule components in food drive health issues.

“Aside from anecdotal examples in the scientific literature, evidence is 
scarce regarding which dietary changes people can make to help them 
manage risk factors for diseases like diabetes or cancer,” said Culp.

“It is possible this is because our microbiomes respond differently to 
the same molecules present in food.”

The scholars designed a systematic map of the interactions between small 
molecules in our food and different bacteria in the gut.

The work is among the first to describe the specific microbial genes 
responsible for metabolic transformation of dietary compounds and the 
mechanisms for how dietary compounds change our microbiomes.

Using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry at the Yale West Campus 
Analytical Core, the scientists combined different molecules with gut 
bacteria to create growth models and maps for around 150 dietary 
“xenobiotic” compounds.

Sequencing at the Yale Center for Genome Analysis enabled the team to 
measure the degree of change in the composition of human gut communities.

“We were surprised by the level of variability,” said Goodman, who is 
the C.N.H. Long Professor and Chair of Microbial Pathogenesis, and 
Director of the Microbial Sciences Institute (MSI).

“The same dietary compound could dramatically reshape some individuals’ 
gut microbial communities while having almost no impact on other 
people’s microbiomes,”

The molecular map provides a mechanism to explain these variable 
responses between different people, showing how a dietary compound 
impacts the growth of gut microbes and how that compound is 
metabolically altered by the microbial community.

Predicting how an individual responds to a given food—and ultimately how 
this affects their health—remains difficult. But the findings offer a 
foundation to understand how metabolic reactions vary between people and 
how these differences shape the growth of “good” or “bad” bacteria in 
our gut.

“If we can figure out the specific microbial genes that determine how a 
microbiome responds to a molecule in our food, and how these genes are 
different between different people’s microbiomes, correlations to 
diseases like cancer, diabetes, or gastrointestinal infections can start 
to make sense,” concludes Culp, who is currently a scientist at Empress 
Therapeutics in Boston.

“This is the first step towards creating custom dietary recommendations 
as part of personalized nutrition strategies.”

--
Luke

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Research: First Gut Microbiome Map for Personalized Food Responses Luke <zumone2002@protonmail.com> - 2024-10-05 22:07 -0400

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