Gut microbial metabolism in health and disease

Abstract

In this chapter we have presented some specific examples of the way gut microbiota influence human health and how they may contribute to the development of noncommunicable inflammatory disease such as obesity, irritable bowel syndrome, and age-related neurodegeneration disorder. The gut microbiota modulate inflammation via their effect on immunity, their own populations, availability of neurotransmitters, key metabolites for host health, and the enterohepatic circulation via bile acid metabolism for gastrointestinal tract homeostasis. Future therapeutic targets for noncommunicable inflammatory diseases may have to go beyond treatment of inflammation in order to control the epidemic that developed countries are now facing with respect to the topics covered in this chapter and other chronic inflammatory conditions such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Knowledge of how to reestablish the original homeostatic condition may require a more detailed dissection of the combination of environmental and dietary factors that give rise to the gut dysbiosis now believed to be important in the etiology of most of these conditions. Only by resetting the “shift” in the homeostatic balance can these conditions be said to be truly “cured.” A better understanding of the microbiota composition and its response to conventional treatments already in use may provide clues to design better pro- and prebiotic strategies to correct dysbiosis along with “prescription diets” to encourage a healthy, diverse population of commensal bacteria. A key component to this will be the application of metabolomics in the evaluation of clinical improvements as a result of therapeutic intervention in an effort to provide key information linking host metabolism with changes in the gut microbiota.