Gut Microbiota--Informed Precision Nutrition in the Generally Healthy Individual: Are We There Yet?

• Published in: Current developments in nutrition Vol. 5; no. 9; p. 1
• Main Authors: Nogal, Bartek, Blumberg, Jeffrey B, Blander, Gil, Jorge, Milena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 01-09-2021
• Subjects: Digestive organs; Health aspects; Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms); Physiological aspects; United States
• ISSN: 2475-2991; 2475-2991
• DOI: 10.1093/cdn/nzab107

Since next generation sequencing facilitated high-throughput and cost-efficient genomics analyses, the human gut metagenome has become an emerging frontier to explore toward precision nutrition. Significant progress has been made in identifying gut microbial features associated with a wide spectrum of human disease. However, other than a few microbiome-disease relations, there is a dearth of confirmed causal inferences, particularly in generally healthy populations. The relatively high unexplained variability in microbiome compositions in this group warrants caution in applying this complex biomarker toward precision nutrition, because our understanding of what constitutes a healthy microbiome is still rudimentary. Although gut microbiota harbor integrated environmental and host-specific information with the potential to facilitate personalized nutritional and lifestyle advice, these data cannot yet be confidently interpreted toward precise recommendations. Thus, nutritional advice for generally healthy individuals based on personal microbiome composition analysis might not yet be appropriate unless accompanied by established blood and physiological biomarkers. Curr Dev Nutr 2021;5:nzab107. Keywords: microbiome, precision nutrition, blood biomarkers, nutrigenomics, generally healthy