Theme: Diet And Microbes
Overview
The interaction between diet, the microbiota and health at the extremes of life – infants and older people – is the main topic of this research theme, with a unifying emphasis on nutrition, cognition and inflammatory disease. In infants and older people, the gut microbiota is in a state of flux, so these are particularly relevant life-stages in which to modulate the microbiota in a health-promoting direction.
Outputs will include new food ingredients for infant formula and for the elderly in addition to dietary advice for infants and elderly to address issues and conditions that are typically associated with these extremes of life. We will also develop biomarkers of microbiota alteration and metabolite depletion, both of which point to consequent risk for a reduced health status which can profoundly influence how individuals are medically treated and managed.
