Dietary fibre deficiency and gut barrier integrity
"Dietary fiber deprivation, together with a fiber-deprived, mucus-eroding microbiota, promotes greater epithelial access and lethal colitis by the mucosal pathogen, Citrobacter rodentium."So said the findings reported by Mahesh Desai and colleagues [1] meriting an editorial in the publishing journal [2] as the sentiments of 'eating your greens' applies to some rather interesting [mouse] findings.Fibre (UK spelling) comes in various different forms typically categorised as soluble and insoluble depending on their relationship with water. Using a "gnotobiotic mouse model" - where mice were "colonized with a synthetic human gut microbiota composed of fully sequenced commensal bacteria" - Desai et al reported on the effects of different diets with different fibre content. Their results make for important reading as a fibre-deprived gut was associated with the rise of some rather potent bacteria that seemed to enjoy dining out on the "colonic mucus barrier, which serves as a primary defense against enteric pathogens." Yes, mice gut barriers - or some of their components at least - were being eaten by the very bacteria they contain. Enjoy your lunch.I'm not dwelling too much on the Desai findings, bearing in mind their focus on mice not humans, but I do want to raise a couple of potentially relevant points. First is the focus on the intestinal barrier and how that so-called 'leaky gut' seems to show a connection to dietary fibre intake. Yet more research bringing this woo-like term in from the scientific cold (see here). Next is the idea that if the Desai results are transferable from mouse to humans, they could be relevant to quite a lot of people who perhaps don't enjoy as much dietary fibre as they should. Further, there may be particular groups of people who might be particularly prone to a poor diet [3] (see here too) where the already discussed term 'leaky gut' is also relevant (see here); also bringing in the idea of a role for those trillions of wee beasties (the gut microbiota) that call us home.I'll be watching for how this research area pans out...----------[1] Desai MS. et al. A Dietary Fiber-Deprived Gut Microbiota Degrades the Colonic Mucus Barrier and Enhances Pathogen Susceptibility. Cell. 2016 Nov 17;167(5):1339-1353.e21.[2] Gazzaniga FS. & Kasper DL. Veggies and Intact Grains a Day Keep the Pathogens Away. Cell. 2016 Nov 17;167(5):1161-1162.[3] Bandini LG. et al. Changes in Food Selectivity in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord. 2016 Nov 19.----------Desai MS, Seekatz AM, Koropatkin NM, Kamada N, Hickey CA, Wolter M, Pudlo NA, Kitamoto S, Terrapon N, Muller A, Young VB, Henrissat B, Wilmes P, Stappenbeck TS, Núñez G, & Martens EC (2016). A Dietary Fiber-Deprived Gut Microbiota Degrades the Colonic Mucus Barrier and Enhances Pathogen Susceptibility. Cell, 167 (5), 1339-2147483647 PMID: 27863247...
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