Live and Diet by Your Gut Microbiota

Abstract

Diet influences health in multiple ways. One important effect of diet is on the gut microbiota. The effects of diet are often related to an individual's specific microbiota composition. The close links between health, diet, and gut microbiota are illustrated in a new mouse model of sepsis where the combination of a high-fat/low-fiber Western diet, antibiotics, and surgery promotes the development of lethal sepsis. Diet can also influence infection via the gut microbiota beyond sepsis. Future studies with this model may inform the use of microbiota analysis and personalized diets to protect surgery patients from infection and sepsis.

Keywords: diet; gut microbiota; infection; sepsis.

FIG 1

A healthy diet and gut microbiota team up to protect patients against sepsis. Continued work in models like the one developed by Hyoju et al. and in human cohorts may lead to a future where personalized diets that work with an individual’s microbiota are used as tools to prevent sepsis and other infections. (Illustration by Patrick Lane, Sceyence Studios.)