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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Food and Feed Safety Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #308557
Title: Food-producing animals and their health in relation to human health

Author
item TELLEZ, G. - University Arkansas For Medical Sciences (UAMS)
item LAUKOVA, A. - Slovak Academy Of Sciences
item LATORRE, J.D. - University Arkansas For Medical Sciences (UAMS)
item HERNANDEZ-VELASCO, X. - Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico
item HARGIS, B.M. - University Arkansas For Medical Sciences (UAMS)
item Callaway, Todd

Submitted to: Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/10/2014
Publication Date: 2/2/2015
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/61139
Citation: Tellez, G., Laukova, A., Latorre, J., Hernandez-Velasco, X., Hargis, B., Callaway, T.R. 2015. Food-producing animals and their health in relation to human health. Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease. 26:25876-25886.

Interpretive Summary: The microbial population of the gut of animals and man provide the host a variety of metabolic functions. Since bacterial antimicrobial resistance has become a serious worldwide problem both in medical and agricultural fields, the possible ban of antibiotics in animal feed due to the current concern over the spread of antibiotic resistance genes makes a compelling case for development of alternative prophylactics. Nutritional approaches to counteract the negative effects of stress and infection may provide producers with useful alternatives to antibiotics. Improving the disease resistance of animals grown without antibiotics will not only benefit the animals’ health, welfare, and production efficiency, but is also a key strategy in the effort to improve the microbiological safety status of animal-derived food products.

Technical Abstract: The fields of immunology, microbiology, and nutrition converge in an astonishing way. Dietary ingredients have a profound effect on the composition of the gut microflora, which in turn, regulates the physiology of metazoans. As such, nutritional components of the diet are of critical importance not only for meeting the nutrient requirements of the host, but also for the microbiome. During their coevolution, bacterial microbiota has established multiple mechanisms to influence the eukaryotic host, generally in a beneficial fashion. The microbiome encrypts a variety of metabolic functions that complements the physiology of their hosts. Over a century ago Eli Metchnikoff proposed the revolutionary idea to consume viable bacteria to promote health by modulating the intestinal microflora. The idea is more applicable now than ever, since bacterial antimicrobial resistance has become a serious worldwide problem both in medical and agricultural fields. The impending ban of antibiotics in animal feed due to the current concern over the spread of antibiotic resistance genes makes a compelling case for development of alternative prophylactics. Nutritional approaches to counteract the debilitating effects of stress and infection may provide producers with useful alternatives to antibiotics. Improving the disease resistance of animals grown without antibiotics will not only benefit the animals’ health, welfare, and production efficiency, but is also a key strategy in the effort to improve the microbiological safe status of animal-derived food products (e.g. by poultry, rabbits, ruminants or pigs). We present some of the alternatives currently used in food-producing animals to influence their health in relation to human health.