Microbiome and Nutrition
The complex community of bacteria, yeasts and viruses living in our intestines, collectively known as the gut microbiome, is shaped, in part, by what we eat. Genetics, environment, and other factors also influence an individual’s microbial community. Research at the NRI investigates these complex relationships and their impact on disease risk. We use animal models and bioinformatics to study the associations between nutritional metabolites, gut microbiome, and health. What happens in the gut doesn’t stay in the gut. Your microbiome can play a role in cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes, and even cancer. Our team envisions a future where analysis of your microbiome can determine disease risk, and medical foods can be prescribed to treat and prevent disease by regulating the microbiome.
Publications
Microbiome and Nutrition Publications
2020
Population studies of TMAO and its precursors may help elucidate mechanisms. Meyer K
2019
Association of dietary patterns with the gut microbiota in older, community-dwelling men. Meyer K
2018
Meta-analysis of human genome-microbiome association studies: the MiBioGen consortium initiative. Meyer K
Human microbiota, blood group antigens, and disease. Sumner S
2017
Trimethylamine N-Oxide, the Microbiome, and Heart and Kidney Disease. Zeisel S
2016
Diet and Gut Microbial Function in Metabolic and Cardiovascular Disease Risk. Meyer K
Antibiotic-mediated gut microbiome perturbation accelerates development of type 1 diabetes in mice. Sumner S
Related News
Catawba scholar helps with research at UNC’s Nutrition Institute
August 25, 2015 • Noyce Scholar Brinsley Stewart of Boonville plans to be a math teacher after she graduates from Catawba College in May 2016, but her internship experience this summer at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute in Kannapolis gave her some keen insights into just how important math and applied statistics can be in the world of research.
Stewart, a rising senior, interned under the tutelage of Dr. Philip May, a 1969 Catawba alumnus. May is a research professor for UNC at the Nutrition Research Institute, where he continues his National Institute of Health-funded research on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.
What rivalry? Duke, UNC collaborate at North Carolina Research Campus
August 24, 2015 • It took Dr. Summer Goodson nearly a year to find six men genetically qualified to participate in a sperm function study at the UNC Nutrition Research Institute (NRI) in Kannapolis. Male fertility is still a sensitive subject, said Goodson, a post-doctoral research associate at the NRI, making it tough to rely on traditional recruitment methods like fliers and advertisements. But after the NRI partnered with Duke University’s MURDOCK Study in Kannapolis, which has nearly 12,000 participants, Goodson needed only one day to identify 13 men who have the genetic variant she studies.
Register: Cooking for Nourishment
Amtrak Shuttle
Please note that we are discontinuing our taxi reservation service immediately due to low use and poor service by the company we contracted with. We ask that you coordinate your own reservations moving forward, and provide a receipt for the taxi service when you turn...
July 2015
July 2015 SoundBites features: The “-omics” of Nutrient Metabolism, Research We’re Reading: Go with Your Gut, Summer Tours and Fall Events
The Longevity Diet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLTJQEROMtA&feature=youtu.be