Abstract
Understanding dietary effects on the gut microbial composition is one of the key questions in human microbiome research. It is highly important to have reliable dietary data on the stool samples to unambiguously link the microbiome composition to food intake. Often, however, self-reported diet surveys have low accuracy and can be misleading. Thereby, additional molecular biology-based methods could help to revise the diet composition. The article by Reese et al. [A. T. Reese, T. R. Kartzinel, B. L. Petrone, P. J. Turnbaugh, et al., mSystems 4(5):e00458-19, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1128/mSystems.00458-19] in a recent issue of mSystems describes a DNA metabarcoding strategy targeting chloroplast DNA markers in stool samples from 11 human subjects consuming both controlled and freely selected diets. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of this molecular method in detecting plant remains in the sample compared to the written dietary records. This study displays an important first step in implementing molecular dietary reconstructions in stool microbiome studies which will finally help to increase the accuracy of dietary metadata.
Highlights
Diet is an important external factor influencing the composition of the human gut microbiome
Various studies have shown the effects of dietary changes on gut microbes which can subsequently impact human physiology [1]
Since the macronutrients are rarely consumed in isolation, those human gut microbiome studies must in addition rely on self-reported human diet surveys
Summary
Diet is an important external factor influencing the composition of the human gut microbiome. Various studies have shown the effects of dietary changes on gut microbes which can subsequently impact human physiology [1]. Since the macronutrients are rarely consumed in isolation, those human gut microbiome studies must in addition rely on self-reported human diet surveys.
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