Diet-microbiota interactions and their implications for  healthy living.
It is well established that diet influences the health of an individual and that  a diet rich in plant-based foods has many advantages in relation to the health and  well-being of an individual. What has been unclear until recently is the large contribution of the gut microbiota to this effect. As well as providing basic nutritional requirements, the long-term diet of an animal modifies its gut microbiota. In adults, diets that have a high proportion of fruit and vegetables and a low consumption of meat are associated with  a highly diverse microbiota and are defined by a greater abundance of Prevotella compared to Bacteroides, while the reverse is associated with a diet that contains a low proportion of plant-based foods. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly clear that the effect of the microbial ecology of the gut goes beyond the local gut immune system and is implicated in immune-related disorders, such as IBS, diabetes and inflamm-ageing. In this review, we investigate the evidence that a balanced diet leads to a balanced, diverse microbiota with significant consequences for healthy ageing by focusing on conditions of interest.
Department of Microbiology, University College Cork, College Road, Cork, Ireland. i.jeffery@ucc.ie
Ian B
IB
Jeffery
Paul W
PW
O'Toole
D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D004032:Diet; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D054892:Metagenome; D051379:Mice; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D009765:Obesity / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology