OUTLOOK
29 January 2020

Diet should be a tool for researchers, not a treatment

Peter J. Turnbaugh explains why scientists can’t tell you what to eat to prevent disease.

Peter J. Turnbaugh⁰

Peter J. Turnbaugh
1. Peter J. Turnbaugh is a microbiologist at the Benioff Center for Microbiome Medicine at University of California, San Francisco.
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A recent report¹ about the health consequences of eating red and processed meat renewed long-standing debates about what evidence should be required before the public are told what foods they should avoid. For me, this subject hits especially close to home — my lab’s research shows that meat consumption alters the human and mouse gut microbiomes, and I am frequently asked if meat is “bad for gut microbes”.

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Nature 577, S23 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00202-5

This article is part of Nature Outlook: The gut microbiome, an editorially independent supplement produced with the financial support of third parties. About this content.

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