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Journal ArticleDOI

Dietary fiber and prebiotics and the gastrointestinal microbiota.

27 Feb 2017-Gut microbes (Taylor & Francis)-Vol. 8, Iss: 2, pp 172-184
TL;DR: The current knowledge of the impact of fiber and prebiotic consumption on the composition and metabolic function of the human gastrointestinal microbiota is reviewed, including the effects of physiochemical properties of complex carbohydrates, adequate intake and treatment dosages, and the phenotypic responses related to the composition of thehuman microbiota.
Abstract: The gastrointestinal microbiota has an important role in human health, and there is increasing interest in utilizing dietary approaches to modulate the composition and metabolic function of the mic...
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: With increasing incidence of CRC at younger ages, there is an urgent need to better identify high-risk individuals younger than 50 years, the age when screening typically starts, and aspirin probably confers chemopreventive benefit against CRC.
Abstract: Globally, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer death. Arising through three major pathways, including adenoma–carcinoma sequence, serrated pathway and inflammatory pathway, CRC represents an aetiologically heterogeneous disease according to subtyping by tumour anatomical location or global molecular alterations. Genetic factors such as germline MLH1 and APC mutations have an aetiologic role, predisposing individuals to CRC. Yet, the majority of CRC is sporadic and largely attributable to the constellation of modifiable environmental risk factors characterizing westernization (for example, obesity, physical inactivity, poor diets, alcohol drinking and smoking). As such, the burden of CRC is shifting towards low-income and middle-income countries as they become westernized. Furthermore, the rising incidence of CRC at younger ages (before age 50 years) is an emerging trend. This Review provides a comprehensive summary of CRC epidemiology, with emphasis on modifiable lifestyle and nutritional factors, chemoprevention and screening. Overall, the optimal reduction of CRC incidence and mortality will require concerted efforts to reduce modifiable risk factors, to leverage chemoprevention research and to promote population-wide and targeted screening. Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide. This Review provides a comprehensive summary of colorectal cancer epidemiology, with emphasis on modifiable lifestyle and nutritional factors, chemoprevention and screening.

1,138 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Overall, further research on long-term diets that include health and microbiome measures is required before clinical recommendations can be made for dietary modulation of the gut microbiota for health.
Abstract: The human gut is inhabited by trillions of microorganisms composing a dynamic ecosystem implicated in health and disease. The composition of the gut microbiota is unique to each individual and tends to remain relatively stable throughout life, yet daily transient fluctuations are observed. Diet is a key modifiable factor influencing the composition of the gut microbiota, indicating the potential for therapeutic dietary strategies to manipulate microbial diversity, composition, and stability. While diet can induce a shift in the gut microbiota, these changes appear to be temporary. Whether prolonged dietary changes can induce permanent alterations in the gut microbiota is unknown, mainly due to a lack of long-term human dietary interventions, or long-term follow-ups of short-term dietary interventions. It is possible that habitual diets have a greater influence on the gut microbiota than acute dietary strategies. This review presents the current knowledge around the response of the gut microbiota to short-term and long-term dietary interventions and identifies major factors that contribute to microbiota response to diet. Overall, further research on long-term diets that include health and microbiome measures is required before clinical recommendations can be made for dietary modulation of the gut microbiota for health.

358 citations


Cites background from "Dietary fiber and prebiotics and th..."

  • ...Biotransformation of these food components often results in the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), including acetate, propionate and butyrate [57]....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Dietary fiber intervention, particularly involving fructans and galacto-oligosaccharides, leads to higher fecal abundance of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus spp.

356 citations


Cites background from "Dietary fiber and prebiotics and th..."

  • ...prebiotic fibers are mostly highly fermentable oligosaccharides (29, 30)....

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  • ...chemical structure, solubility, viscosity and fermentability (29, 30)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The latest findings considering the beneficial effects of the promising commensals across all major intestinal phyla are summarized, including the already well-known bifidobacteria, which use extracellular structures or secreted substances to promote intestinal health.
Abstract: The intestinal microbiota, composed of pro- and anti-inflammatory microbes, has an essential role in maintaining gut homeostasis and functionality. An overly hygienic lifestyle, consumption of processed and fiber-poor foods, or antibiotics are major factors modulating the microbiota and possibly leading to longstanding dysbiosis. Dysbiotic microbiota is characterized to have altered composition, reduced diversity and stability, as well as increased levels of lipopolysaccharide-containing, proinflammatory bacteria. Specific commensal species as novel probiotics, so-called next-generation probiotics, could restore the intestinal health by means of attenuating inflammation and strengthening the epithelial barrier. In this review we summarize the latest findings considering the beneficial effects of the promising commensals across all major intestinal phyla. These include the already well-known bifidobacteria, which use extracellular structures or secreted substances to promote intestinal health. Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Roseburia intestinalis, and Eubacterium hallii metabolize dietary fibers as major short-chain fatty acid producers providing energy sources for enterocytes and achieving anti-inflammatory effects in the gut. Akkermansia muciniphila exerts beneficial action in metabolic diseases and fortifies the barrier function. The health-promoting effects of Bacteroides species are relatively recently discovered with the findings of excreted immunomodulatory molecules. These promising, unconventional probiotics could be a part of biotherapeutic strategies in the future.

341 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
08 Jan 2018-BMJ
TL;DR: This review summarizes the preclinical and clinical evidence on how dietary, probiotic, prebiotic, and microbiome based therapeutics affect the understanding of wellness and disease, particularly in autoimmunity.
Abstract: The role of the gut microbiome in models of inflammatory and autoimmune disease is now well characterized. Renewed interest in the human microbiome and its metabolites, as well as notable advances in host mucosal immunology, has opened multiple avenues of research to potentially modulate inflammatory responses. The complexity and interdependence of these diet-microbe-metabolite-host interactions are rapidly being unraveled. Importantly, most of the progress in the field comes from new knowledge about the functional properties of these microorganisms in physiology and their effect in mucosal immunity and distal inflammation. This review summarizes the preclinical and clinical evidence on how dietary, probiotic, prebiotic, and microbiome based therapeutics affect our understanding of wellness and disease, particularly in autoimmunity.

336 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
23 Jan 2014-Nature
TL;DR: Increases in the abundance and activity of Bilophila wadsworthia on the animal-based diet support a link between dietary fat, bile acids and the outgrowth of microorganisms capable of triggering inflammatory bowel disease.
Abstract: Long-term dietary intake influences the structure and activity of the trillions of microorganisms residing in the human gut, but it remains unclear how rapidly and reproducibly the human gut microbiome responds to short-term macronutrient change. Here we show that the short-term consumption of diets composed entirely of animal or plant products alters microbial community structure and overwhelms inter-individual differences in microbial gene expression. The animal-based diet increased the abundance of bile-tolerant microorganisms (Alistipes, Bilophila and Bacteroides) and decreased the levels of Firmicutes that metabolize dietary plant polysaccharides (Roseburia, Eubacterium rectale and Ruminococcus bromii). Microbial activity mirrored differences between herbivorous and carnivorous mammals, reflecting trade-offs between carbohydrate and protein fermentation. Foodborne microbes from both diets transiently colonized the gut, including bacteria, fungi and even viruses. Finally, increases in the abundance and activity of Bilophila wadsworthia on the animal-based diet support a link between dietary fat, bile acids and the outgrowth of microorganisms capable of triggering inflammatory bowel disease. In concert, these results demonstrate that the gut microbiome can rapidly respond to altered diet, potentially facilitating the diversity of human dietary lifestyles.

7,032 citations


"Dietary fiber and prebiotics and th..." refers background in this paper

  • ...switching between an agrarian diet rich in fiber (> 30 grams/day) to a meat-based diet that was essentially devoid of fiber.(13)...

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Journal ArticleDOI
14 Jun 2012-Nature
TL;DR: The need to consider the microbiome when evaluating human development, nutritional needs, physiological variations and the impact of westernization is underscored, as distinctive features of the functional maturation of the gut microbiome are evident in early infancy as well as adulthood.
Abstract: Gut microbial communities represent one source of human genetic and metabolic diversity. To examine how gut microbiomes differ among human populations, here we characterize bacterial species in fecal samples from 531 individuals, plus the gene content of 110 of them. The cohort encompassed healthy children and adults from the Amazonas of Venezuela, rural Malawi and US metropolitan areas and included mono- and dizygotic twins. Shared features of the functional maturation of the gut microbiome were identified during the first three years of life in all three populations, including age-associated changes in the genes involved in vitamin biosynthesis and metabolism. Pronounced differences in bacterial assemblages and functional gene repertoires were noted between US residents and those in the other two countries. These distinctive features are evident in early infancy as well as adulthood. Our findings underscore the need to consider the microbiome when evaluating human development, nutritional needs, physiological variations and the impact of westernization.

6,047 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Carbohydrate-Active Enzyme (CAZy) database is a knowledge-based resource specialized in the enzymes that build and breakdown complex carbohydrates and glycoconjugates and has been used to improve the quality of functional predictions of a number genome projects by providing expert annotation.
Abstract: The Carbohydrate-Active Enzyme (CAZy) database is a knowledge-based resource specialized in the enzymes that build and breakdown complex carbohydrates and glycoconjugates. As of September 2008, the database describes the present knowledge on 113 glycoside hydrolase, 91 glycosyltransferase, 19 polysaccharide lyase, 15 carbohydrate esterase and 52 carbohydrate-binding module families. These families are created based on experimentally characterized proteins and are populated by sequences from public databases with significant similarity. Protein biochemical information is continuously curated based on the available literature and structural information. Over 6400 proteins have assigned EC numbers and 700 proteins have a PDB structure. The classification (i) reflects the structural features of these enzymes better than their sole substrate specificity, (ii) helps to reveal the evolutionary relationships between these enzymes and (iii) provides a convenient framework to understand mechanistic properties. This resource has been available for over 10 years to the scientific community, contributing to information dissemination and providing a transversal nomenclature to glycobiologists. More recently, this resource has been used to improve the quality of functional predictions of a number genome projects by providing expert annotation. The CAZy resource resides at URL: http://www.cazy.org/.

6,028 citations


"Dietary fiber and prebiotics and th..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Bacteria possess carbohydrate-binding modules and an extensive set of enzymes, including glycoside hydrolases, glycosyltransferases, polysaccharide lyases, and carbohydrate esterases that allow for the hydrolysis of a wide variety of fibers.(58,59) Therefore, having a variety of dietary fibers (e....

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Journal ArticleDOI
07 Oct 2011-Science
TL;DR: Alternative enterotype states are associated with long-term diet, particularly protein and animal fat (Bacteroides) versus carbohydrates (Prevotella) and other enterotypes distinguished primarily by levels of Bacteroide and Prevotella.
Abstract: Diet strongly affects human health, partly by modulating gut microbiome composition. We used diet inventories and 16S rDNA sequencing to characterize fecal samples from 98 individuals. Fecal communities clustered into enterotypes distinguished primarily by levels of Bacteroides and Prevotella. Enterotypes were strongly associated with long-term diets, particularly protein and animal fat (Bacteroides) versus carbohydrates (Prevotella). A controlled-feeding study of 10 subjects showed that microbiome composition changed detectably within 24 hours of initiating a high-fat/low-fiber or low-fat/high-fiber diet, but that enterotype identity remained stable during the 10-day study. Thus, alternative enterotype states are associated with long-term diet.

5,174 citations


"Dietary fiber and prebiotics and th..." refers background in this paper

  • ...habitual dietary patterns are associated with the composition of individual’s gastrointestinal microbiota, but significant changes in macronutrient and fiber intake also can rapidly induce changes.(12) Pronounced shifts in bacterial diversity and production of microbial derived fecal fermentative end products have been demonstrated in as little as 24 hours in humans...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The changes that have occurred in CAZy during the past 5 years are outlined and a novel effort to display the resolution and the carbohydrate ligands in crystallographic complexes of CAZymes is presented.
Abstract: The Carbohydrate-Active Enzymes database (CAZy; http://www.cazy.org) provides online and continuously updated access to a sequence-based family classification linking the sequence to the specificity and 3D structure of the enzymes that assemble, modify and breakdown oligo- and polysaccharides. Functional and 3D structural information is added and curated on a regular basis based on the available literature. In addition to the use of the database by enzymologists seeking curated information on CAZymes, the dissemination of a stable nomenclature for these enzymes is probably a major contribution of CAZy. The past few years have seen the expansion of the CAZy classification scheme to new families, the development of subfamilies in several families and the power of CAZy for the analysis of genomes and metagenomes. This article outlines the changes that have occurred in CAZy during the past 5 years and presents our novel effort to display the resolution and the carbohydrate ligands in crystallographic complexes of CAZymes.

4,997 citations

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