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Review
. 2023 Oct 5:10:1225120.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1225120. eCollection 2023.

Exploring the gut microbiota: lifestyle choices, disease associations, and personal genomics

Sharlize Pedroza Matute  1 , Sasitaran Iyavoo  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Exploring the gut microbiota: lifestyle choices, disease associations, and personal genomics

Sharlize Pedroza Matute et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

The gut microbiota is a rich and dynamic ecosystem that actively interacts with the human body, playing a significant role in the state of health and disease of the host. Diet, exercise, mental health, and other factors have exhibited the ability to influence the gut bacterial composition, leading to changes that can prevent and improve, or favor and worsen, both intestinal and extra-intestinal conditions. Altered gut microbial states, or 'dysbiosis', associated with conditions and diseases are often characterized by shifts in bacterial abundance and diversity, including an impaired Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio. By understanding the effect of lifestyle on the gut microbiota, personalized advice can be generated to suit each individual profile and foster the adoption of lifestyle changes that can both prevent and ameliorate dysbiosis. The delivery of effective and reliable advice, however, depends not only on the available research and current understanding of the topic, but also on the methods used to assess individuals and to discover the associations, which can introduce bias at multiple stages. The aim of this review is to summarize how human gut microbial variability is defined and what lifestyle choices and diseases have shown association with gut bacterial composition. Furthermore, popular methods to investigate the human gut microbiota are outlined, with a focus on the possible bias caused by the lack of use of standardized methods. Finally, an overview of the current state of personalized advice based on gut microbiota testing is presented, underlining its power and limitations.

Keywords: dysbiosis; exercise; genomics; gut; lifestyle; microbiome; microbiota; nutrition.

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Conflict of interest statement

SPM and SI were employed by Nkaarco Diagnostics Limited.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Example of lifestyle factors impacting the gut microbiota, favoring health or disease. Factors reported in green have been linked to positive, health-oriented changes, while factors reported in red have been associated with negative alterations of the gut microbiota, linked with dysbiosis and disease states. Elements reported in orange font are factors with an impact that may be either positive or negative. Yoga and hypnotherapy have been marked with a question mark since it is still not clear if the positive health effects may be linked to gut microbiota changes.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Example of V4 16S rRNA sequencing workflow, from fecal sample collection to generation of personalized lifestyle report, including dietary suggestions, physical exercise, sleep, mental health, xenobiotics, and alcohol use recommendations. In the example, the 254 bp long V4 region is amplified with 515F and 806R primers.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Feces types on the Bristol Stool Chart.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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