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You are what you eat

Nature Biotechnology volume 32, pages 243–245 (2014)Cite this article

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Eating foods rich in plant fiber promotes health by changing the composition and metabolic products of gut bacteria.

The health benefits of eating plant fiber have long been appreciated. Epidemiological studies show an inverse relationship between dietary plant fiber and the risk of heart disease, obesity and type-2 diabetes, and consumption of dietary fiber is recommended by the American Dietetic Association and other health organizations. But the biological mechanisms underlying the health effects of dietary fiber have been hard to pin down. Gut microbes are presumed to be involved because they contribute to fiber digestion. Two recent papers in Nature1 and Cell2 shed light on their roles, demonstrating that ingestion of plant fiber induces rapid shifts in the composition and function of the gut microbiota and that metabolites produced by the microbiota support metabolic health by regulating glucose control in the host. These findings may guide efforts to design 'prebiotics'—dietary supplements capable of manipulating the gut microbiota to improve human health.

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Figure 1: Short-chain fatty acids produced by microbial fermentation of plant fibers improve glucose regulation.

Katie Vicari

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harald Brüssow is at the Nestlé Research Center, Lausanne, Switzerland,

    Harald Brüssow

  2. Scott J. Parkinson is at the Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences, Lausanne, Switzerland.,

    Scott J Parkinson

Authors
  1. Harald Brüssow
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  2. Scott J Parkinson
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Harald Brüssow or Scott J Parkinson.

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Competing interests

The authors are employees of Nestlé SA which sells and develops food products containing probiotics and prebiotics.

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Brüssow, H., Parkinson, S. You are what you eat. Nat Biotechnol 32, 243–245 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.2845

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