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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Davis, California » Western Human Nutrition Research Center » Immunity and Disease Prevention Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #359804
Title: The role of the gut microbiome in predicting response to diet and the development of precision nutrition models. Part I: Overview of Current Methods

Author
item HUGHES, RILEY - University Of California, Davis
item MARCO, MARIA - University Of California, Davis
item HUGHES, JAMES - University Of Washington
item Keim, Nancy
item Kable, Mary

Submitted to: Advances in Nutrition
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/2019
Publication Date: 6/21/2019
Citation: Hughes, R.L., Marco, M., Hughes, J.P., Keim, N.L., Kable, M.E. 2019. The role of the gut microbiome in predicting response to diet and the development of precision nutrition models. Part I: Overview of Current Methods. Advances in Nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmz022.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmz022

Interpretive Summary: Individuals can have vastly different responses to dietary components. Perhaps the most pronounced examples of this are lactose intolerance, gluten intolerance and other specific food allergies. However, some less pronounced variation also exists. For example, two individuals placed on the same calorie restricted diet will likely not lose the same amount of weight. The field of personalized nutrition aims to optimize dietary recommendations at the individual level based on gut bacterial population, genetic, metabolic and other clinical information. The methods used for studying these complex data sets can dramatically impact the results obtained by researchers. This paper stands as the first in a two-part review of the role of gut microbiota in personalized nutrition research. Herein the methods for experimental design, statistical and bioinformatics analysis in personalized nutrition studies are reviewed. Part II in this series examines the current state of the research for personalized nutrition and the gut microbiome along with directions for future research.

Technical Abstract: Healthcare is becoming increasingly focused on health at the individual level. In the rapidly-evolving field of precision nutrition, researchers aim to identify how genetics, epigenetics, and the microbiome interact to shape an individual’s response to diet. With this understanding, personalized responses can be predicted and dietary advice can be tailored to better suit the individual. With the integration of these complex sources of data, an important aspect of precision nutrition research is the methodology used for studying the role of each individual component in determining inter-individual variability in response to diet. This paper stands as the first in a two-part review of current research investigating the contribution of the gut microbiota to inter-individual variability in response to diet. Part I reviews the methods used by researchers to design and carry out such studies as well the statistical and bioinformatic methods used to analyze the results subsequently obtained. Part II reviews the findings of these studies, discusses gaps in our current knowledge, and summarizes directions for future research. Taken together, these reviews summarize the current state of and provide a foundation for future research on the role of the gut microbiome in the field of precision nutrition.