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Wayne
(138.26.199.131) on 2/8/2008 - 10:57 a.m. says: ( 44 views
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"Paradigm shift is coming to human biology . . . "
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CONTEXT ADDED BY ADMIN:
END OF CONTEXT
specifically gut biology . . .
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18252821?dopt=abstract
Human beings can be considered as ‘‘superorganisms’’ as a
result of their close symbiotic associations with the gut
microbiota (1). Superorganism metabolism involves integration
of truly indigenous metabolic processes (coded in the host
genome) with those of the microbiome. This results in extensive
transgenomic cometabolism of many substrates including those
involved in host metabolic regulation (2). The superorganism
concept represents an important paradigm shift in understanding
human biology and is likely to have a significant impact on
the future of disease prevention and therapy (3). Recent works
have shown that the exact humanmicrobiome composition varies
between healthy people (2, 4, 5) and also between lean and obese
individuals (6), and further, that the microbiome composition is
responsive to dietary modulation for weight reduction (6).
‘‘Top-down’’ systems biology (3) analysis of metabolic profiles of
human baby microbiota and normal microbiota associated mice
revealed that absorption, storage, and metabolism of dietary
lipids were specifically modulated by the microbiome (7). Moreover,
the induction of type 2 diabetes and obesity with a high-fat
diet in rats has been shown to correlate with the predose
metabolic patterns associated with differences in gut bacterial
activities, indicating the importance of the microbiome in host
predisposition to diseases (8).
It was recently shown
that a low Bacteroidetes-to-Firmicutes ratio was correlated with
obesity and that this ratio can be increased by dietary calorific
restriction (6). All of the Chinese studied here had Bacteroidetesto-
Firmicutes ratios that were similar to lean American individuals
reported in previous studies (6). However, in our study, the
onlymarginally overweight familymember [GF, bodymass index
(BMI) 25.6] also had the lowest Bacteroidetes-to-Firmicutes ratio
(0.26) in his gut microbiota. Interestingly, the other family
member (UC) who had a low Bacteroidetes-to-Firmicutes ratio
(0.28) was not overweight, but had lived in the United Kingdom
for 2 years and adopted a moreWestern lifestyle and diet pattern
(details in SI Text: Materials and Methods).
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