The impact of nutrition on intestinal bacterial communities

- Diet plays a major role in shaping the gut microbiota both in the short and long-term.
- Non-digestible carbohydrates may often stimulate growth of a few specialized species.
- Dietary impacts upon the gut microbiota influence metabolites that affect health.

What we eat influences the species composition of our gut microbiota. This is not only because diet composition determines the supply of substrates for microbial growth (in the form of dietary residue, mainly fibre, that reaches the large intestine) but also because of impacts on gut transit and the gut environment. In turn the metabolic activities of the gut microbiota, which have important health consequences, are influenced by diet and diet-driven changes in microbiota composition. Better understanding of the metabolic capabilities and host-interactions of dominant members of the gut microbiota will aid our ability to improve human health through diet.