New Gut Microbiome Discoveries for Gut Health and IBD Prevention | Prof Fontana

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), affects over 7 million people globally. Once more common in Western nations, IBD incidence is rising in newly industrialized countries, likely due to dietary changes, such as increased consumption of processed foods and animal products, alongside reduced intake of plant-based foods. This shift depletes key gut bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids vital for gut health, leading to impaired immune regulation and increased inflammation.

Research has identified significant changes in the gut microbiota of IBD patients, with an increase in proinflammatory bacteria like Escherichia coli and Bacteroides fragilis and a reduction in beneficial species such as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. These imbalances contribute to chronic inflammation in IBD.

Zheng et al. used data from 5,979 fecal samples to create highly accurate diagnostic models for distinguishing IBD patients from healthy controls. Their study also developed a new noninvasive test targeting IBD-associated bacteria, which outperformed traditional diagnostics. Key findings include the enrichment of pathogenic bacteria in CD patients and the discovery of a novel bacterium, Actinomyces sp. oral taxon 181, in both CD and UC patients. Additionally, disruptions in bacterial species involved in amino acid biosynthesis were linked to impaired tissue repair and immune function in IBD.

This research highlights the role of diet and gut microbiota in IBD, suggesting that the rise in processed foods may be contributing to gut microbial imbalances and increased susceptibility to inflammation. These findings could lead to new microbiota-based diagnostics and therapies for IBD.