Page 27 - Science Focus (Issue 017)

With all these in mind, is it possible to improve our can become a mainstream treatment of metabolic
health by altering our microbiota? The short answer is problems like diabetes and obesity. For now, just reach
yes, and it can be achieved in two ways. The first is to for the yogurt from the fridge to get some probiotics
use FMT to introduce the microbiota to the recipient, as (beneficial microorganisms) — as we are, literally, living
described in the example of how C. difficile infection together with the microbes in our guts!
can be treated. Scientists also hope that in the near
future, genetically engineered bacteria can act as a
tool to be introduced to detect and treat diseases like
inflammatory bowel disease, as they can be engineered
to produce certain medically beneficial substances
[3]. The second option is to change our microbiota
composition and metabolism with diet. Dietary patterns
can significantly influence our gut microbiota and in turn
affect our health. For example, food additives, including
sweeteners, have been shown to disrupt gut microbiota
balance and diversity, which as mentioned previously, is
correlated with metabolic diseases [2]. Meanwhile, high
dietary fiber intake was also found to confer short-term
health benefits in trials, possibly through the metabolites
of the microbiota, like SCFAs [2].

A lthoug h the exact m echa n i s m s of how
the gut microbiota interacts with the host still
need further investigation, it is evident that gut
microbiota is crucial to our health. With a better
understanding of the interactions with our microbiota,
it is possible that the introduction of microbes into guts

那麼，我們可以通過改變微生物群來改善我們的健康狀況
嗎？簡單來說是可以的，而且可以通過兩種方式來實現。第一種
方法是使用糞便微生物移植將微生物群引入接受者的體內，如
上面關於治療艱難梭菌感染一例所述。科學家們還希望在不久
的將來把轉基因細菌引進身體，作為檢測和治療疾病（例如炎
症性腸病等）的工具，因為它們可以被改造至能生產一些醫學
上有用的物質 [3]。第二個選擇是通過飲食改變我們體內微生物
群的組成和代謝。飲食習慣能影響我們的腸道菌群，進而影響
我們的健康。例如包括甜味劑在內的一些食品添加劑已被證實
能破壞腸道菌群的平衡和多樣性，如前文所述，這與代謝疾病
有關 [2]。同時，攝取大量膳食纖維亦被發現能對短期健康帶來
好處，這可能是與微生物群的代謝產物相關，如 SCFAs[2]。

雖然腸道菌群與宿主之間相互作用的確切機制仍有待進一
步調查，但顯然地腸道菌群對我們的健康非常重要。當科學家
進一步了解我們與體內微生物群的相互作用時，將微生物引入
腸道就可能會成為治療糖尿病和肥胖症等代謝疾病的主流方
法。但現在，我們至少可以從冰箱的乳酪得到一些益生菌來改
善健康 — 而我們確實與腸道中的微生物住在一起！

References 參考資料：
[1] Chittim, C. L., Irwin, S. M., & Balskus, E. P. (2018). Deciphering Human Gut Microbiota-Nutrient Interactions: A Role for Biochemistry.
Biochemistry, 57(18), 2567-2577. doi:10.1021/acs.biochem.7b01277
[2] Valdes, A. M., Walter, J., Segal, E., & Spector, T. D. (2018). Role of the gut microbiota in nutrition and health. BMJ, 361. doi:10.1136/
bmj.k2179
[3] Ainsworth, C. (2020). Therapeutic microbes to tackle disease. Nature, 577, S20-S22. doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-00201-6
[4] Goodrich, J. K., Waters, J. L., Poole, A. C., Sutter, J. L., Koren, O., Blekhman, R., . . . Ley, R. E. (2014). Human genetics shape the gut
microbiome. Cell, 159(4), 789-799. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2014.09.053
[5] Beaumont, M., Goodrich, J. K., Jackson, M. A., Yet, I., Davenport, E. R., Vieira-Silva, S., . . . Bell, J. T. (2016). Heritable components
of the human fecal microbiome are associated with visceral fat. Genome Biology, 17(1), 189. doi:10.1186/s13059-016-1052-7
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