Title:Dietary Fiber Gap and Host Gut Microbiota
VOLUME: 24 ISSUE: 5
Author(s):Meng Han, Congmin Wang, Ping Liu, Defa Li, Yuan Li* and Xi Ma*
Affiliation:State Key Lab of Animal Nutrition, China Agricultural University, No 2. Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing, 100193, Department of Dermatology, Land force General Hospital of PLA, Beijing 100000, State Key Lab of Animal Nutrition, China Agricultural University, No 2. Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing, 100193, State Key Lab of Animal Nutrition, China Agricultural University, No 2. Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing, 100193, Department of Gastroenterology, The Third Hospital of Peking University, North Garden Road, Beijing, 100191, State Key Lab of Animal Nutrition, China Agricultural University, No 2. Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing, 100193
Keywords:Fiber gap, gut microbiota, metabolic disease, microbiota-accessible carbohydrate, host health, protein turnover.
Abstract:Accumulating evidence is dramatically increasing the access to the facts that the gut microbiota
plays a pivotal role in host metabolism and health, which revealed the possibility of a plethora
of associations between gut bacteria and human diseases. Several functional roles are carried out
by a major class of the host’s diet, such as fiber. Fiber is the main source of microbiota-accessible
carbohydrate in the diet of humans. In the modern diet, it is difficult to intake sufficient dietary fiber
as recommended. The low-fiber diet in the modern life, known as fiber gap, can trigger a substantial
depletion of the human gut microbiota diversity and beneficial metabolites. The short-chain fatty
acids are regarded as one of the major microbial metabolites of dietary fibers, which can improve
intestinal mucosal immunity, as well as to be a source of energy for the liver. Thus, the loss of microbiota
diversity has a potential negative function to various aspects of host health. Actually, the
real "fiber gap" for ideal health and maintaining microbial diversity might be even more serious than
currently appreciated. Herein, we briefly discuss the interactions between gut microbiota and the host
diet, focusing specifically on the low-fiber diet. Gut bacteria in the context of the development of
host low-fiber diets, which may lead to health and disorders, particularly include metabolic syndrome
and obesity-related disease, IBD liver, disease, and colorectal cancer.
