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Published online 18 April 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.767
News
Gut reactions
Analytical technique shows how metabolism varies between populations.
Thousands of frozen urine samples have yielded new information about the diversity of human metabolism across the globe — about who eats what, and how their unique internal microorganisms handle the input.
‘Genome-wide association studies’ can link specific gene variants with diseases and predictors of disease, such as blood pressure and weight.
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This news article is poorly written because it does not make it clear why gut flora are important, or even why they are being discussed. The method, NMR of urine, does not distinguish a metabolite excreted by a gut bacterium from one generated by the host. Indisputably, variations in gut flora are important, and the cited authors have contributed greatly to our understanding of this, but it was the responsibility of the reporter to make this connection. This was not done.