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CLINICAL
GASTROENTEROLOGY
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such as antibiotics and chemotherapy have also been shown to have an important impact on gut bacteria.
More recently, research has also confirmed that gut microbiome has an influence on the bidirectional
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communication between the gut and the brain. Discoveries around the gut microbiome-brain axis will maybe change the way some conditions are perceived( including autism, depression and anxiety among others). |
MICROBIOTA MODULATION: NUTRITION AND MEDICATIONS AS KEY STRATEGIES
One of the insights to come out of Chinese metagenomics projects reinforced the importance of nutrition,
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as it showed a close connection between diet and health. " Diet is the major force in shaping the gut microbiota," points out Dr Liping Zhao, professor of microbiology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and leader of the Functional Metagenomics Platform at Shanghai Center for Systems Biomedicine emphasises.
Probiotics have been tested in many clinical trials to date. Some of them demonstrated benefits of probiotics in prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhea, of allergy disease in early life, or improvement of symptoms in adult irritable bowel syndrome and some liver diseases. Further insights are needed into the yeast strains or bacterial species and the doses that effectively modulate the gut microbiota to produce different health outcomes.
Understanding and modeling the complexity of the intestinal ecosystem is an important challenge in the field- and one that may be critical to the future of healthcare.
“ Concepts and practices in human nutrition will change as we begin to couple food intake with changes in the behavior of the gut microbiota,” predicts Prof Versalovic.“ We will consider nutrition and medications differently in pediatric and adult medicine based on life-stage-specific differences in the microbiota.”
Specific new therapies that target gut bacteria are also on the global research agenda. Going from the basic science to the clinic, however, will not be without its challenges.“
The biggest barrier to translation is that the gut microbiota is so complex that it is taking time- plenty of time in years- for many scientists to find the signals and‘ hike’ through the noise to get to new diagnostics and therapeutics as cornerstones of metagenomic medicine,” Prof Versalovic says.
The Gut Microbiota for Health World Summit takes place in an important context: In view of the recent discoveries on the broad impact of gut microbiota in human health, experts point out the need for medical practice guidelines for physicians, nutritionists and other healthcare professionals. Sharing knowledge and experiences, as will be done in this conference, is key for achieving a better understanding and implementation of interventions to protect our unique bacterial partners.
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Source: Gut Microbiota for Health. |
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48 MAY 2017 | MEDICAL CHRONICLE |