Abstract
The 2017 annual symposium organized by the University Medical Center Groningen in The Netherlands focused on the role of the gut microbiome in human health and disease. Experts from academia and industry examined interactions of prebiotics, probiotics, or vitamins with the gut microbiome in health and disease, the development of the microbiome in early-life and the role of the microbiome on the gut–brain axis. The gut microbiota changes dramatically during pregnancy and intrinsic factors (such as stress), in addition to extrinsic factors (such as diet, and drugs) influence the composition and activity of the gut microbiome throughout life. Microbial metabolites, e.g. short-chain fatty acids affect gut–brain signaling and the immune response. The gut microbiota has a regulatory role on anxiety, mood, cognition and pain which is exerted via the gut–brain axis. Ingestion of prebiotics or probiotics has been used to treat a range of conditions including constipation, allergic reactions and infections in infancy, and IBS. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) highly effective for treating recurrent Clostridium difficile infections. The gut microbiome affects virtually all aspects of human health, but the degree of scientific evidence, the models and technologies and the understanding of mechanisms of action vary considerably from one benefit area to the other. For a clinical practice to be broadly accepted, the mode of action, the therapeutic window, and potential side effects need to thoroughly be investigated. This calls for further coordinated state-of-the art research to better understand and document the human gut microbiome’s effects on human health.
Highlights
The University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) in The Netherlands organizes annual symposia within the compass of medicine and nutrition, as part of its Healthy Ageing program
Therapeutic alteration of intestinal microbiota in conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) may be achieved by ingestion of probiotics and prebiotics to increase the number of commensal bacteria within the gut, antibiotics which deplete pathogenic bacteria, and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) which introduces a healthy, diverse microbiota into the gut [35]
The composition of the gut microbiota is influenced by intrinsic mechanisms such as stress, and extraneous factors such as diet, prebiotics, probiotics, and drugs including pump inhibitors (PPIs) and antibiotics
Summary
The University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) in The Netherlands organizes annual symposia within the compass of medicine and nutrition, as part of its Healthy Ageing program. The various benefits of prebiotics on human health, the microbiome–nutrient interaction and the role of vitamins in promoting the selective growth of microbes in the gut as well as determinants of the development of a healthy microbiome were presented and discussed intensively.
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