Gut Health Beyond Fiber
Researchers are trying to determine mechanisms of bioactive compounds in foods and have found the gut to be a “black box” that needs to be investigated. Breakthroughs in understanding interactions happening in the gut will bring health and wellness research of foods to a new level. Various dietary phenolic compounds have antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cholestemic, anti-diabetic, and anti-cancer activities. Are many of these activities interrelated? Are these phenolic compounds precursors of simpler molecules that are then absorbed into the bloodstream to perform their bioactivities? How does the gut microflora change with what we eat?
What is currently known about these and many other questions that can be posed about this black box will be discussed during Session 248 The Microbiome: Beyond Fiber on Thursday morning from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Room N109.
