BBSRC Institute Strategic Programme: Food Microbiome and Health (FMH) - Partner Grant

在全球范围内，不良饮食占所有成人死亡人数的1000万（22%）（每年），其中心血管疾病是主要原因。英国的肥胖率和健康预期寿命都是欧洲最高的，因此迫切需要转向更营养均衡的饮食。日益增长的环境、道德和健康问题正在促使人们向富含植物的饮食过渡，这一趋势将因全球人口和气候变化而加剧。我们饮食习惯的改变为设计新的植物性食品提供了独特的机会，以改善健康。然而，这种饮食转变也带来了挑战，因为植物性饮食含有富含碳水化合物的加工食品，具有高热量/卡路里含量，往往具有较低的关键常量营养素，如蛋白质，微量营养素，包括维生素D和B12，以及矿物质，如铁，锌和碘。与植物性饮食相关的许多营养挑战正在通过生物强化和基因编辑等新技术来解决。有必要了解这些方法不仅对食物结构和组成的影响，而且它们如何影响胃肠道微生物组和宿主responses.Strategy，目的和目标：应对这些挑战的一个关键，可实现的战略是关注植物性食品，胃肠道微生物组和人类健康之间的关系。因此，我们的总体目标是通过对这些相互作用的机制研究，解开特定植物性食品、胃肠道微生物和健康之间复杂的关系。FMH ISP分为四个主题（T），包括反映途径和加工的目标。身体对植物性食品的加工以提供健康益处：- T1胃肠道中的食物结构/组成/消化和营养释放;- T2植物性食物和宏量和微量营养素对GIT微生物群结构和功能的作用;- T3营养素如何影响关键器官系统的完整性和生理学，例如GIT本身，肝脏和大脑;- T4利用从我们的机制研究中获得的知识来评估新的基于食物和微生物群的干预措施，这些干预措施可以促进或改善长寿健康，概念人体试验。我们的研究旨在提供一个机制的理解如何植物性食品的结构和组成可以用来改善健康和减少疾病的威胁，通过其与胃肠道微生物组的相互作用。ISP分为四个主题（Ts），分别是最先进的、专业的和使能的技术。在T1中，我们将使用可以通过基因编辑/生物强化/加工进行修饰的植物性食物，使用QIB独特的体外消化和肠道发酵模型，确定这些食物如何被消化，以及释放的营养素如何在整个GIT中转化和/或吸收。（例如SHIME）;食品分析;代谢组学和维生素诊断。

Globally, poor diet accounts for 10 million (22%) of all adult deaths (every yearwith cardiovascular disease as the leading cause. The UK has both the highest obesity rates and worst healthy lifeexpectancy in Europe, hence the urgent need to switch to a more nutritionally balanced diet. Growing environmental,ethical and health concerns are motivating transition to plant-rich diets, a trend that will increase because of globalpopulation and climate change. The changes in our dietary habits provide unique opportunities for designing novel plantbasedfoods that improve health. However, this dietary shift also brings challenges as plant-based diets contain processedcarbohydrate-rich foods with high glycaemic/ calorie content that tend to have lower availability of key macronutrients, suchas protein, micronutrients including vitamins D and B12, and minerals such as iron, zinc and iodine. Many of the nutrientchallenges associated with plant-based diets are being addressed through processes such as biofortification and newtechnologies such as gene-editing. There is need to understand the effect of these approaches not only on food structureand composition, but also how they impact the GI microbiome and host responses.Strategy, aims and objectives: A key, achievable strategy for addressing these challenges is to focus on the relationshipsbetween plant-based food, the GI microbiome and human health. Consequently, our overall aim is to unpick thecomplicated relationship between particular plant-based foods, GI microbes and health through mechanistic research intothese interactions.The FMH ISP is organised into four themes (Ts) comprising targeted objectives that reflect the pathway and processing ofplant-based food by the body to provide health benefits:- T1 Food structure/composition/digestion and nutrient release in the GIT;- T2 Role of plant-based foods and macro- and micro-nutrients on the GIT microbiota structure and function;- T3 How nutrients impact on the integrity and physiology of key organ systems e.g. the GIT itself, liver and brain;- T4 Exploiting the knowledge gained from our mechanistic studies to evaluate new food and microbiota-basedinterventions that promote or improve long-life health in proof-of-concept human trials.Our research aims to provide a mechanistic understanding of how the structure and composition of plant-based foods canbe used to improve health and reduce the threat of disease through its interaction with the GIT microbiome. The ISP isorganised into four themes (Ts) with state-of-the-art, specialist and enabling technologies.In T1, we will use plant-based foods that can be modified through gene editing/ biofortification/ processing to determinehow these foods are digested and the released nutrients transformed and/or absorbed throughout the GIT using QIB'sunique in vitro digestion and intestinal fermentation models (e.g. SHIME); food analytics; metabolomics and vitamindiagnostics.