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Human nutrition, the gut microbiome and the immune system

Nature volume 474, pages 327–336 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

Marked changes in socio-economic status, cultural traditions, population growth and agriculture are affecting diets worldwide. Understanding how our diet and nutritional status influence the composition and dynamic operations of our gut microbial communities, and the innate and adaptive arms of our immune system, represents an area of scientific need, opportunity and challenge. The insights gleaned should help to address several pressing global health problems.

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Figure 1: A schematic of the proposed relationships between the gut microbiota, the immune system and the diet, which underlie the development of malnutrition.
Figure 2: Metabolite sensors that help to coordinate immune responses.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to members of our laboratory, plus our colleagues C. Semenkovich and A. Shaw for many discussions. Work cited from our laboratory was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (DK30292, DK70977 and DK078669), the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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  1. Andrew L. Goodman

    Present address: †Present address: Section of Microbial Pathogenesis and Microbial Diversity Institute, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06536, USA.,

  2. Andrew L. Kau and Philip P. Ahern: *These authors contributed equally to this work.

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  1. Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, 63108, Missouri, USA

    Andrew L. Kau, Philip P. Ahern, Nicholas W. Griffin, Andrew L. Goodman & Jeffrey I. Gordon

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Kau, A., Ahern, P., Griffin, N. et al. Human nutrition, the gut microbiome and the immune system. Nature 474, 327–336 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10213

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