Human Microbiome, Diet and Health

Bacteria and microbes are everywhere. They are at our homes, at our desk, in our keyboards, table , in our hair, skin, in our clothes. Why are we telling you this?

There exists 10-100 trillion microbial cells which are primarily bacteria in our gut. It is estimated that the number of cells in our body is roughly equal to or less than than the total number of microbial cells. Some estimates suggests that there at least 10 times more microbiota cells in our gut as compared to human cells.

The human microbiome plays an important role in all aspects of our health. They influence our metabolism, fight infections, influence our thoughts, and help us prevent diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, cancer.

Through our data story , we present how diet , health and human microbiome are related. We also present how small changes to diet and lifestyle can help us achieve better health.

Diet plays an import role in maintaining biodiversity of our gut microbiome. The next 3 sections are based on a dataset which include samples of gut microbiome from countries of 5 European regions, and the United States. For each sample the data included microbiome metrics of diversity using shannon index, richness using chao1, coverage using coverage index, evenness using evenness pielou, and inequality using gini index.

Diet & Microbiome Diversity in Western Countries

Europe & US Interactive Map

Microbiome Diversity And Richness

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Diet also plays an important role in maintaining evenness of gut microbiome species. Countries from Eastern Europe have the highest species evenness on average. UK and Ireland, Scandinavian countries, and Southern Europe have comparable microbiome evenness. US has the highest microbiome inequality on average as compared to other European region.

Evenness & Inequality in Microbiome

Microbiome evenness

Microbiome Inequality

Exploring gut microbiome by Region, BMI and Age. Choose a category from drop down menu and click on the circles on left to highlight the dominant bacteria in that category.

Exploring Microbiome

Click on the left circle to see the top 10 bacteria in this category

Circle Matrix

How to improve health through the microbiome

Study finds fermented-food diet increases microbiome diversity and decreases inflammatory proteins.

High Fermented Foods Diet

Increased microbiome diversity

Decreased inflammatory signals and activity

Study finds a high fiber diet will increase microbiome function and will have personalized immune responses.

High Fiber Diet

Increased microbiome function (CAZymes, SCFAs)

Personalized Immune Responses

Fermented food intake decreases markers of host inflammation.

Here, we look at 15 participants that have increased either their fermented or fiber rich food consumption, and measured several of their health indicators.

Fermented Foods - Improved health indicators.

IL-6 is a key mediator of chronic inflammation; is elevated in several chronic inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, type-2 diabetes, and chronic stress. As it can be seen below, IL6 levels decreased with the consumption of fermented foods.

Classical monocytes and nonclassical monocytes are also critical for the initial inflammatory response. As it can be seen, they also decrease with fermented food consumption.

IL6

Classical Monoctyles

Non Classical Monocytes

Fiber Rich Foods - Improved health indicators.

Several types of dietary fibres found in plant-based foods provide an important source of sustenance for the trillions of bacterial cells in our gut, also known as prebiotics

CAZymes(Carbohydrate-active enzymes) facilitate the formation and break down of complex carbohydrates and glycoconjugages. It can be seen below that CAZyme levels increased with high fiber consumption.

Cazyme GH10

Cazyme GH23

Cazyme GH43

What bacteria do fermented foods contain?

Fermented foods contain various different bacterial that are beneficial to health. Here we will show 3 examples.

* Please hover over on the pie slices to see the bacteria composition and benefits

Foods & Lifestyle to support gut microbiome and health

Choosing the right food, and lifestyle can not only help us maintain good health but also increases our abundance and diversity of gut microbiome.

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Strawberry

Strawberry are rich in antioxidants. They alter the abundance and composition of gut microbiota

Grains & Beans

Grains and Beans are high in fiber and resitant starch. It is the food for our gut microbiota

Fish oil

Fish oil are high in omega-3 fatty acid. Studies show that they increase abundance of gut microbiota, in addition to providing other health benefits.

Kefir

Kefir is a fermented food. It is rich in bacteria that are beneficial for our gut health. They help increase the diversity, and abundance of gut microbiota.

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Sweet Potato

Sweet potato are high in resistant starch. It is the food for our gut microbiota, and help increase abundance and diversity of microbiome.

Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate not only support our mood but also help increase abundance of gut microbiome.

Fermented vegetables

Fermented vegetable such as sauerkraut and kimchi are not only tasty, but contain abundance of bacteria that are beneficial for our gut health.

Excercise

Excercise can not only reduce stress, and prevent disease but also help with improving gut microbiome.