“Our ultimate aim is to understand how we can manipulate the bacteria to optimise health, and we know that one of the easiest ways to change the microbiota is to change the diet.”
Traditionally, nevertheless, scientists have targeted on the function of dietary fibre in sustaining a wholesome gut.
In this first-of-its-kind research, printed in Nature Communications, the group from the Charles Perkins Centre used refined modelling to discover the influence of 10 diets with a special make-up of macronutrients – protein, fat and carbohydrate in mice.
They found {that a} high-protein weight loss program modified the composition and exercise of the gut microbiota.
Mice fed a excessive protein weight loss program elevated their manufacturing of bacterial extracellular vesicles, complicated cargo containing bacterial data reminiscent of DNA and protein. The physique subsequently considered this exercise as a menace and triggered a sequence of occasions the place immune cells travelled into the gut wall.
“Here we found protein had a huge impact on the gut microbiota and it was not so much about the type of bacteria that were there, but the type of activity. In essence, we discovered a new way of communication between the gut bacteria and the host which was mediated by protein,” mentioned Associate Professor Macia.
While it’s too early to say if this analysis may translate in people, the researchers say activation of the immune system can show both good or unhealthy information.
“By increasing antibodies in the gut you may see strong protection against potential pathogens, for example salmonella, but on the downside, an activated immune system could mean you are at increased risk of colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease, or autoimmune conditions like Crohn’s,” mentioned lead creator and post-doctoral researcher Jian Tan.
The outcomes seem in line with the inhabitants impacts of modern-day diets, with the Western world seeing decrease charges of gastrointestinal an infection however larger charges of power illness.
This development in information was made attainable by the merging of educational disciplines for which the Charles Perkins Centre has turn out to be well-known.
The research utilised the geometric framework for diet developed by Professor Stephen Simpson and Professor David Raubenheimer, arising from the research of ecology.
“The ‘dietary geometry’ framework allows us to plot meals, meals, diets and dietary patterns collectively primarily based on their nutrient composition, and this helps researchers to watch in any other case neglected patterns in the links between sure diets, health and illness,” mentioned Professor Simpson, Academic Director of the Charles Perkins Centre.
“This is the first time this model has been applied in immunology and it could only have happened here at the Charles Perkins Centre. We are excited about what could come next,” Associate Professor Macia mentioned.
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