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
NRI’s nutrition and diet instruction entering mainstream of medical practice
Researchers at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute (NRI) are filling a much needed gap for students in medical schools around the world with its Nutrition in Medicine curriculum. The curriculum centers on an initiative to bring...
First study in NRI's Metabolic Chamber leads to metabolism breakthrough
The UNC NRI is home to one of the few metabolic chambers (whole room calorimeters) in the country and to the only one in the sate of North Carolina. This unique tool offers the most accurate way available to assess metabolism because it measures energy expenditure...
Mother's diet before pregnancy may change gene-expression of offspring
An epigenetic study conducted by NRI scientist Mihai Niculescu, M.D., Ph.D., shows that in mice, maternal nutrition during pregnancy and lactation can have a significant impact upon the offspring's ability to use its own nutrients during early life. Specifically, this...
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is much more common than expected
An $8.9 million grant from the National Institute of Health's National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is allowing NRI scientist Philip May, Ph.D., to examine the prevalence and characteristics of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in the United States....
Study Identifies Gene Associated with Male Infertility
Fifteen of every hundred couples in the world who want to have children find it difficult or impossible to conceive. In about half those couples, the difficulty results from the male partner's fertility. Now researchers at UNC Nutrition Research Institute (NRI), in...
Sergey A. Krupenko, Ph.D.
Sergey A. Krupenko, Ph.D., joined the UNC Nutrition Research Institute (NRI) in 2014. Dr. Krupenko’s research focuses on vitamin folate and its role in liver function and cancer disease. His goal is to understand how we can fight cancer by controlling the diet and...