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

The impact of early-life sub-therapeutic antibiotic treatment (STAT) on excessive weight is robust despite transfer of intestinal microbes.  Sumner S

Protein Intake at Twice the RDA in Older Men Increases Circulatory Concentrations of the Microbiome Metabolite Trimethylamine-N-Oxide (TMAO).  Zeisel S

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

Dietary Choline and Betaine and Risk of CVD: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies.  Meyer K

A Microbiomic Analysis in African Americans with Colonic Lesions Reveals Streptococcus sp.VT162 as a Marker of Neoplastic Transformation.  Sumner S

Metabolic profiling of a chronic kidney disease cohort reveals metabolic phenotype more likely to benefit from a probiotic.  Sumner S

Trimethylamine N-Oxide, the Microbiome, and Heart and Kidney Disease.  Zeisel S

2016

Microbiota-Dependent Metabolite Trimethylamine N-Oxide and Coronary Artery Calcium in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study (CARDIA).  Meyer K

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

Why a Fly?

Why a Fly?

January 29, 2018 – The genome of a fruit fly is strikingly similar to that of a human — so much so that scientists have been studying these tiny insects for over 100 years, in search of treatments for diseases like spinal muscular atrophy and neurological disorders. UNC geneticist and director of the Integrative Program for Biological and Genome Sciences Bob Duronio, PhD is one of those scientists. “It begins with curiosity. Curiosity about a process. And then a question about that process. And then a hypothesis that will lead to an experiment that will provide results and data to interpret. What I love about this process is that my hypotheses are often wrong. And that’s really exciting — because no human being is smart enough to understand biology at a level of molecular detail where their hypotheses are always right.” Continue Reading Why a Fly?

January 2018

Quinoa Compounds Slow Aging, Improve Metabolic Health in Animal Study December 27, 2017 – In a collaboration between Rutgers University and the N.C. State University Plants for Human Health Institute (PHHI) at the NC Research Campus (NCRC), scientists used an animal...

Quinoa Compounds Slow Aging, Improve Metabolic Health in Animal Study

Quinoa Compounds Slow Aging, Improve Metabolic Health in Animal Study

December 27, 2017 – In a collaboration between Rutgers University and the N.C. State University Plants for Human Health Institute (PHHI) at the NC Research Campus (NCRC), scientists used an animal model to show for the first time that quinoa phytochemicals, such as ecdysteroids, may slow the effects of aging and improve metabolic health. Their study was published in the October 2017 edition of the Journal of Functional Foods. Continue Reading Quinoa Compounds Slow Aging, Improve Metabolic Health in Animal Study

December 2017

Choline: The essential but forgotten nutrient November 27, 2017 – Perhaps it’s because you don’t see it on nutrition labels yet, but choline — an essential nutrient from conception through old age — tends to be tragically overlooked. According to data from the...