Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.7
3.5
Journals
Metabolites
Special Issues
The Roles of Diet, Gut Microbiome and Microbial Metabolome in...
share announcement

The Roles of Diet, Gut Microbiome and Microbial Metabolome in Precision Nutrition

A special issue of Metabolites (ISSN 2218-1989). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutrition and Metabolism".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2025) | Viewed by 3309

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Renny S. Lan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA
2. Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center, Little Rock, AR 72202, USA
Interests: metabolomics; gut microbiome; precision nutrition; diet; integration; inte-grative; lipidomic; personalized nutrition; probiotics; prebiotics; microbiota
Dr. Jiangjiang Zhu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Human Nutrition Program, James Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Interests: mass spectrometry-based metabolomics; advanced chemometrics; sensitive, reliable and non-invasive detection and monitoring of human diseases
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Trillions of microbes inhabit the human gastrointestinal tract. Metagenomics studies have demonstrated that there are 3.3 million unique genes in the human gut, 150 times more genes than in the human genome. Diet and nutrition play a substantial role and have impacts on human development, disease prevention, health status, and the human gut microbiome. Interactively, the gut microbiota also has a pivotal influence on host metabolic response to diet. Some general associations between dietary intakes and disease risk outcomes have been validated at the population level. However, inter-individual differences in postprandial metabolic responses to diet challenge the concept of “one-size-fits-all” dietary recommendations. Integrative gut microbiome and metabolomics research are critical to elucidate the interplay among diet, nutrition, microbiome, microbial metabolites, and their roles in human health, particularly in the growing area of precision nutrition.

The scope of this Special Issue “The Roles of Diet, Gut Microbiome and Microbial Metabolome in Precision Nutrition” is devoted to research papers and literature reviews describing the role of diet and nutrition in shaping the gut microbiome; the strategies of utilizing microbiome and metabolomics approaches in precision nutrition; the omics integration between microbiome and metabolomics data; microbiome epidemiological studies regarding the associations of diet and nutrition with the microbiome and its derived metabolites; and microbial signatures of both prebiotics and probiotics in relation to disease magnesium, diagnosis, prevention, and dietary management.

Dr. Renny S. Lan
Dr. Jiangjiang Zhu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metabolites is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • metabolomics
  • gut microbiome
  • precision nutrition
  • diet
  • integration
  • integrative
  • lipidomic
  • person-alized nutrition
  • probiotics
  • prebiotics
  • microbiota

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

16 pages, 968 KiB  
Article
Green Tea with Rhubarb Root Reduces Plasma Lipids While Preserving Gut Microbial Stability in a Healthy Human Cohort
by Amanda J. Lloyd, MJ Pilar Martinez-Martin, Alina Warren-Walker, Matthew D. Hitchings, Odin M. Moron-Garcia, Alison Watson, Bernardo Villarreal-Ramos, Laura Lyons, Thomas Wilson, Gordon Allison and Manfred Beckmann
Metabolites 2025, 15(2), 139; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo15020139 - 19 Feb 2025
Viewed by 712
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Cardiovascular diseases remain a leading cause of mortality and morbidity, and dyslipidaemia is one of the major risk factors. The widespread use of herbs and medicinal plants in traditional medicine has garnered increasing recognition as a valuable resource for increasing wellness [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Cardiovascular diseases remain a leading cause of mortality and morbidity, and dyslipidaemia is one of the major risk factors. The widespread use of herbs and medicinal plants in traditional medicine has garnered increasing recognition as a valuable resource for increasing wellness and reducing the onset of disease. Several epidemiologic and clinical studies have shown that altering blood lipid profiles and maintaining gut homeostasis may protect against cardiovascular diseases. Methods: A randomised, active-controlled parallel human clinical trial (n = 52) with three herbal tea infusions (green (Camellia sinensis) tea with rhubarb root, green tea with senna, and active control green tea) daily for 21 days in a free-living healthy adult cohort was conducted to assess the potential for health benefits in terms of plasma lipids and gut health. Paired plasma samples were analysed using Afinion lipid panels (total cholesterol, LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol, HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol, triglycerides, and non-HDL cholesterol) and paired stool samples were analysed using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to determine bacterial diversity within the gut microbiome. Results: Among participants providing fasting blood samples before and after the intervention (n = 47), consumption of herbal rhubarb root tea and green tea significantly lowered total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and non-HDL cholesterol (p < 0.05) in plasma after 21 days of daily consumption when compared with concentrations before the intervention. No significant change was observed in the senna tea group. In participants providing stool samples (n = 48), no significant differences in overall microbial composition were observed between pre- and post-intervention, even at the genus level. While no significant changes in overall microbial composition were observed, specific bacterial genera, such as Dorea spp., showed correlations with LDL cholesterol concentrations, suggesting potential microbiota-mediated effects of tea consumption. Diet and BMI was maintained in each of the three groups before and after the trial. Conclusions: It was found that drinking a cup of rhubarb root herbal or green tea infusion for 21 days produced beneficial effects on lipid profiles and maintained gut eubiosis without observable adverse effects in a healthy human cohort. More studies are needed to fully understand the effects of rhubarb root and green tea in fatty acid metabolism and gut microbial composition. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Roles of Diet, Gut Microbiome and Microbial Metabolome in Precision Nutrition)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 2168 KiB  
Article
Carrot-Derived Rhamnogalacturonan-I Consistently Increases the Microbial Production of Health-Promoting Indole-3-Propionic Acid Ex Vivo
by Annick Mercenier, Lam Dai Vu, Jonas Poppe, Ruud Albers, Sue McKay and Pieter Van den Abbeele
Metabolites 2024, 14(12), 722; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo14120722 - 21 Dec 2024
Viewed by 1761
Abstract
Background: Using dietary interventions to steer the metabolic output of the gut microbiota towards specific health-promoting metabolites is often challenging due to interpersonal variation in treatment responses. Methods: In this study, we combined the ex vivo SIFR® (Systemic Intestinal Fermentation Research) technology [...] Read more.
Background: Using dietary interventions to steer the metabolic output of the gut microbiota towards specific health-promoting metabolites is often challenging due to interpersonal variation in treatment responses. Methods: In this study, we combined the ex vivo SIFR® (Systemic Intestinal Fermentation Research) technology with untargeted metabolite profiling to investigate the impact of carrot-derived rhamnogalacturonan-I (cRG-I) on ex vivo metabolite production by the gut microbiota of 24 human adults. Results: The findings reveal that at a dose equivalent to 1.5 g/d, cRG-I consistently promoted indole-3-propionic acid (IPA) production (+45.8% increase) across all subjects. At a dose equivalent to 0.3 g/d, increased IPA production was also observed (+14.6%), which was comparable to the effect seen for 1.5 g/d inulin (10.6%). IPA has been shown to provide protection against diseases affecting the gut and multiple organs. The Pearson correlation analysis revealed a strong correlation (R = 0.65, padjusted = 6.1 × 10−16) between the increases in IPA levels and the absolute levels of Bifidobacterium longum, a producer of indole-3-lactic acid (ILA), an intermediate in IPA production. Finally, the community modulation score, a novel diversity index, demonstrated that cRG-I maintained a high α-diversity which has previously been linked to elevated IPA production. Conclusions: The results from the ex vivo SIFR® experiment mirrored clinical outcomes and provided novel insights into the impact of cRG-I on the gut microbiome function. Importantly, we demonstrated that cRG-I promotes tryptophan conversion into IPA via gut microbiome modulation, thus conferring benefits via amino acid derived metabolites extending beyond those previously reported for short chain fatty acids (SCFA) resulting from carbohydrate fermentation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Roles of Diet, Gut Microbiome and Microbial Metabolome in Precision Nutrition)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Review

Jump to: Research

42 pages, 1038 KiB  
Review
Gut–Brain Inflammatory Pathways in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: The Role and Therapeutic Potential of Diet
by Naomi Lewis, Jim Lagopoulos and Anthony Villani
Metabolites 2025, 15(5), 335; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo15050335 - 19 May 2025
Viewed by 243
Abstract
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood-onset neurodevelopmental disorder that often persists into adulthood, leading to various adverse outcomes. Its underlying pathology is multifactorial, involving neurotransmitter imbalances, gut microbiota alterations, and oxidative and inflammatory dysregulation. Diet, a key environmental modifier of gut ecology, [...] Read more.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood-onset neurodevelopmental disorder that often persists into adulthood, leading to various adverse outcomes. Its underlying pathology is multifactorial, involving neurotransmitter imbalances, gut microbiota alterations, and oxidative and inflammatory dysregulation. Diet, a key environmental modifier of gut ecology, is consistently poorer in individuals with ADHD, with multiple nutrients implicated in its pathophysiology. This review examines the role of specific nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids, key micronutrients, and potentially harmful dietary components, as well as broader dietary patterns, particularly the Western diet and Mediterranean diet (MedDiet), in relation to ADHD symptoms. It also evaluates both whole-diet and supplement-based clinical interventions, supporting the growing recognition of nutrition as a safe and relatively affordable modifiable factor in ADHD management. Additionally, the biological mechanisms linking diet to ADHD are reviewed, highlighting strong evidence for the involvement of gut dysbiosis and inflammatory processes. Despite the well-documented antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and microbiome benefits of the MedDiet, direct research investigating its role in ADHD remains limited. Most whole-diet approaches to date have focused on elimination diets, leaving a significant gap in understanding the potential role of the MedDiet in ADHD management. Therefore, this review outlines preliminary evidence supporting the MedDiet and its key components as modulators of ADHD-related biological pathways, indicating its potential as a therapeutic approach. However, further research is required to rigorously evaluate its clinical efficacy. Finally, the limitations of observational and interventional nutritional research in ADHD are discussed, along with recommendations for future research directions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Roles of Diet, Gut Microbiome and Microbial Metabolome in Precision Nutrition)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-3
Back to TopTop