Ethical gut microbiota research in Africa.
Ethical gut microbiota research in Africa.
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非洲的道德肠道微生物群研究。
DOI：
10.1038/s41564-023-01436-5
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发表时间：
2023
影响因子：
28.3
通讯作者：
Glover,JanieceS
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Littlejohn,PaulaT;Glover,JanieceS
调查肠道微生物群与疾病之间关系的观察性研究主要集中在欧洲人群或那些吃西方饮食并生活在工业化环境中的人身上。类似的研究很少在生活在非洲大陆的人群中进行，那里生活着世界人口的15%，人口增长率最高。相反，非洲人群中的人类微生物群研究主要集中在儿童营养不良的人群、传染病人群、传统的狩猎采集者或农业家非洲人群。然而，关于非洲人群肠道微生物群的研究并不充分，包括与肥胖相关的非传染性疾病（例如糖尿病）的相关性。在1998年至2017年期间，南非妇女的超重和肥胖患病率分别从51.3%增加到60%和从24.7%增加到35.2%。在这里，我们讨论了Oduaran等人的一项研究，该研究旨在通过描述流行病学向西化饮食、不活跃的生活方式和随后的肥胖对两个南非女性队列肠道微生物群的影响来解决这一数据缺口。作者发现，西方化（即采用西方饮食和生活方式）对塑造南非女性的肠道微生物群有很大影响，同时表明社区参与是微生物群研究的一个重要因素。我们选择这篇论文是为了突出对一个研究不足的人群的研究，也是因为它独特的尊重社区参与的方法。
Observational studies investigating the relationship between the gut microbiota and disease have mainly focused on European cohorts or those who eat Westernized diets and live in industrialized settings. Similar studies have rarely been carried out in cohorts living on the African continent, where 15% of the world’s population lives and where the rate of population growth is highest. Instead, human microbiome research in African populations has focused on cohorts with childhood undernutrition, on cohorts with infectious diseases, or on traditional hunter–gatherer or agriculturalist African cohorts.The human microbiota has a crucial role in health and disease. However, studies on the gut microbiota in African populations are under-represented, including on associations with non-communicable diseases linked to obesity (for example, diabetes) 1. Between 1998 and 2017, the prevalence of overweight and obesity have increased from 51.3% to 60% and from 24.7% to 35.2%, respectively, in women from South Africa 2. Here, we discuss a study by Oduaran et al. that aimed to address this data gap by characterizing the impact of epidemiological transition to a Westernized diet, inactive lifestyle and subsequent obesity on the gut microbiota of two female South African cohorts. The authors found that Westernization (that is, the adoption of a Western diet and lifestyle) had a strong effect on shaping the gut microbiota of South African women, while demonstrating that community engagement is an important factor in microbiota studies within this context. We selected this paper to highlight work on an understudied population and because of its unique method of respectful community engagement.