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Review
. 2021 Jan 10;13(1):196.
doi: 10.3390/nu13010196.

Evolution of the Human Diet and Its Impact on Gut Microbiota, Immune Responses, and Brain Health

Brigitte M González Olmo  1   2 , Michael J Butler  2 , Ruth M Barrientos  2   3   4   5
Affiliations
Review

Evolution of the Human Diet and Its Impact on Gut Microbiota, Immune Responses, and Brain Health

Brigitte M González Olmo et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

The relatively rapid shift from consuming preagricultural wild foods for thousands of years, to consuming postindustrial semi-processed and ultra-processed foods endemic of the Western world less than 200 years ago did not allow for evolutionary adaptation of the commensal microbial species that inhabit the human gastrointestinal (GI) tract, and this has significantly impacted gut health. The human gut microbiota, the diverse and dynamic population of microbes, has been demonstrated to have extensive and important interactions with the digestive, immune, and nervous systems. Western diet-induced dysbiosis of the gut microbiota has been shown to negatively impact human digestive physiology, to have pathogenic effects on the immune system, and, in turn, cause exaggerated neuroinflammation. Given the tremendous amount of evidence linking neuroinflammation with neural dysfunction, it is no surprise that the Western diet has been implicated in the development of many diseases and disorders of the brain, including memory impairments, neurodegenerative disorders, and depression. In this review, we discuss each of these concepts to understand how what we eat can lead to cognitive and psychiatric diseases.

Keywords: aging; depression; gut dysbiosis; human diet evolution; microbiota; neurodegeneration; neuroinflammation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pathways of communication along the gut–brain axis. A complex interaction of endocrine, immune, and neural cells forms a signaling system that works by sensing changes in microbiota metabolites in the gut and communicating the changes to the brain via both circulatory and neural routes. EEC: enteroendocrine cell. Created with BioRender.com.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Sensory information is carried from vagus and somatosensory afferent fibers to the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS). Created with BioRender.com.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Schematic representation of the human blood–brain barrier. Created with BioRender.com.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The evolution of the human diet, from natural food sources to ultra-processed foodstuffs, has led to drastic changes in the gut microbiota, which has negatively impacted immune signaling in both the intestines and the brain, contributing to widespread chronic disease in the developed world. Created with BioRender.com.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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