Managing the Gut Microbiome with Common Food Compounds

Researchers at San Diego State University have identified common dietary compounds that they say can help manage the human gut microbiome, including killing specific bacteria without affecting others.

Foods they tested that had antimicrobial effects include honey, licorice, stevia, aspartame, hot sauce, herbs such as oregano, spices such as cinnamon and clove, rhubarbs, uva ursi (bear berry), and neem extract.

"The microbiome is composed of hundreds of different bacteria and the phages they host," said Lance Boling, first author of the paper published in Gut Microbes today. "We could actually tackle certain conditions by adjusting the foods we consume, that will affect microbial diversity which in turn will influence health and diseases."

"This shows we could sculpt the human gut microbiome with common dietary compounds," added senior author Forest Rohwer. "The ability to kill specific bacteria, without affecting others, makes these compounds very interesting."

While other studies have focused on increasing the abundance of therapeutic phages, this research goes further to explore the reductive effect of 117 commonly consumed foods, chemical additives, and plant extracts on the growth and phage production capacity of common gut bacteria.

This reductive approach is "akin to pulling weeds from a garden so that more desirable plants have room to grow," Boling explained, hence the term 'landscaping' the gut.

Conversely, over-consumption of broad-spectrum antimicrobial foods could contribute to the same metabolic states correlated with low gut diversity that may be produced by the administration of antibiotic medicines. Proper understanding and utilization of these food compounds could aid in the treatment or prevention of conditions associated with gut imbalances, and promote overall health.

"We are excited about finding more prophage inducers and determining the molecular mechanisms by which they work," Rohwer said. "There are probably thousands of compounds that would be useful for eliminating unwanted bacteria."