Diet, Weight and the GI Microbiota

Ideally, the nutrients in a meal are metabolized by the digestive system and transported to tissues where they are used for energy, maintenance, repair, and growth. However, nutrients that are only partially digested and non-digested nutrients such as edible fiber are transported to the large intestine, where they serve as nutrition for the resident microbiota.

In contemporary affluent societies, meals often include large amounts of carbohydrates, fat and protein that cannot be digested and absorbed, resulting in an abundance of undigested nutrients reaching the lower GI tract. Recent published data indicate this overabundance is associated with "blooms" of Firmicutes that increase the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteriodetes microbiota, which serves to further increase the caloric impact of meals while also potentially blunting the beneficial actions associated with Bacteriodetes microbiota.

Similarly, studies have shown that obese humans and mice have a greater proportion of Firmicutes compared to Bacteriodetes microbiota, and that this ratio can be reversed by dieting or by switching from a diet rich in sugar, protein, and fat to one rich in non-digestible carbohydrates, such as certain fibers. The higher ratio of Bacteriodetes to Firmicutes microbiota resulting from these dietary changes is associated with weight loss and improved body composition, demonstrating improvements in health status that are independent of the effect of dieting alone. Based on these scientific insights, NuMe Health is developing a number of cobiotic™ products specifically designed to promote increases in Bacteriodetes microbiota along with proportional decreases in Firmicutes microbiota.

The GI Microbiota and Other Conditions

In recent years, researchers have applied scientific breakthroughs such as high throughput DNA sequencing and related technologies to identify and characterize the vast populations of bacteria naturally residing in our gastrointestinal tract, enabling them to unravel the many ways that the GI microbiome can affect human health and well-being. Examples include differences in the ability of women to benefit from the reduction in menopause symptoms provided by certain soy products, depending on the composition of their GI microbiome; the potentially greater susceptibility to atherosclerosis seen in individuals whose microbiota produce unique biomarkers associated with the condition; and recent studies in animals linking specific GI bacterial populations to differences in mood and behavior. The rapid advance in our knowledge of how the GI microbiome interacts with food, drugs, and dietary supplements, and the effects of these interactions on human health, is providing NuMe scientists with unprecedented opportunities to develop new products specifically designed to manage the microbiome for positive health outcomes.

The scientists at NuMe Health are committed to achieving leadership in the effort to translate these findings into safe and effective cobiotic products that leverage our bodies' natural resources to improve our health. At NuMe, we are committed to developing and marketing evidence-based cobiotic products that are being developed with the scientific quality and clinical rigor characteristic of biopharmaceutical R&D.

For more information on the microbiome and human health, see Resources.