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Review
. 2025 Sep 22;171(5):387-391.
doi: 10.1136/military-2024-002746.

'It takes a village': deciphering the role of the gut microbiome in the health and performance of military personnel

Iain Templeman  1 , E Parish  1 , J Rimmer  2 , G Clarke  3 , T Troth  2 , M S Goodson  4 , J W Soares  5 , S V Harding Dr  6   7
Affiliations
Review

'It takes a village': deciphering the role of the gut microbiome in the health and performance of military personnel

Iain Templeman et al. BMJ Mil Health. .

Abstract

The human gut microbiome can be impacted by a range of environmental and lifestyle factors including diet, antibiotics, physical fitness and acute and chronic stressors. There is also evidence to suggest that specific compositional and/or functional features of the gut microbiome are mediators of aspects of health and performance including disease susceptibility, cognitive and physical states and the immune response. Therefore, understanding microbe-to-microbe and nutrient-to-microbe interactions in the gut and how they interact with host biology (eg, via the gut-brain axis) could enable better design of interventions aimed at modulating the gut microbiome to improve the health and performance of the military. Accordingly, this review summarises a thematic session hosted at the 6th International Conference on Soldier Physical Performance which provided an overview of military-relevant research related to the gut microbiome. It articulates a timely opportunity to leverage this rapidly advancing area to improve personnel health and military performance.

Keywords: Gastrointestinal infections; MICROBIOLOGY; Neurobiology; Nutritional support; Physiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: GC has received honoraria from Janssen, Probi and Apsen as an invited speaker, is in receipt of research funding from Pharmavite, Reckitt, Tate and Lyle, Nestle and Fonterra and has received payments as a consultant from Yakult, Zentiva and Heel Pharmaceuticals. This support neither influenced nor constrained the content of this article. All other authors have no competing interests to declare.

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