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

随着人们采用更可持续的饮食，FMH ISP的总体目标是调查如何更好地了解食物结构和组成，及其与胃肠道微生物组的相互作用，以促进健康和预防疾病。FMH ISPG研究的背景和需求：在全球范围内，不良饮食占所有成人死亡的1000万（22%）（每年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。我们饮食习惯的变化为设计改善健康的新型植物性食品提供了独特的机会。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，aims和objectives：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械研究来解开特定植物性食品，GI微生物和健康之间的复杂关系。然后，我们将应用这些知识开发新的基于食物和微生物组的干预策略，通过建立或提高对年龄相关疾病的恢复力和抵抗力来增加健康寿命。我们的研究得到了最先进的食品分析，动态胃肠道模拟模型，器官芯片系统，微生物群转移技术（MRT），宏基因组测序和生物信息学，超分辨率图像设施，临床前模型，以及使用基于QI的临床研究设施（CRF）和内窥镜检查。FMH ISP分为四个主题（Ts）- T1食物结构/组成/消化和GIT中的营养素释放;- 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，在概念验证人体试验中评估新的基于食品和微生物群的干预措施，以促进或改善长寿健康。潜在应用和益处：我们的研究成果将与多个利益相关者相关，包括食品系统;医疗保健;政策和法规;行业;消费者和患者群体。它们还将激励和装备下一代研究人员，使他们拥有宝贵的知识和可转移的技能，以维持长期的进展。我们的成果将通过我们与健康、营养/食品标准和生物标准方面的关键政策利益相关者的战略联系，为向可持续、健康的富含植物的饮食过渡的循证政策提供支持，从而为医疗保健应用提供基础。这将改善人类健康并减轻NHS的负担，同时为食品、生物制药和医疗保健行业带来经济收益。

With people adopting more sustainable diets, the overall aim of the FMH ISP is to investigate how an improved understanding of food structure and composition, and its interaction with the GI microbiome, can be used to promote health and prevent disease.Context and need for FMH ISPG research: Globally, poor diet accounts for 10 million (22%) of all adult deaths (every year with cardiovascular disease as the leading cause. The UK has both the highest obesity rates and worst healthy life expectancy 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 global population and climate change. The changes in our dietary habits provide unique opportunities for designing novel plant-based foods that improve health. However, this dietary shift also brings challenges as plant-based diets contain processed carbohydrate-rich foods with high glycaemic/ calorie content that tend to have lower availability of key macronutrients, such as protein, micronutrients including vitamins D and B12, and minerals such as iron, zinc and iodine. Many of the nutrient challenges associated with plant-based diets are being addressed through processes such as biofortification and new technologies such as gene-editing. There is need to understand the effect of these approaches not only on food structure and 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 relationships between plant-based food, the GI microbiome and human health. Consequently, our overall aim is to unpick the complicated relationship between particular plant-based foods, GI microbes and health through mechanistic research into these interactions. We will then apply this knowledge to develop new food-based and microbiome-targeted intervention strategies that increase health span by building or improving resilience and resistance to age-related diseases. Our research is supported by state-of-the-art food analytics, dynamic GI-tract simulation models, organ-on-chip systems, microbiota transfer technology (MRT), metagenomic sequencing and bioinformatics, super-resolution image facilities, pre-clinical models, and access to QI-based clinical research facility (CRF) and endoscopy.The FMH ISP is organised into four themes (Ts) comprising targeted objectives that reflect the pathway and processing of plant-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-based interventions that promote or improve long-life health in proof-of-concept human trials.Potential applications and benefits: Our research outputs will have relevance for multiple stakeholders including food systems; healthcare; policy and regulation; industry; consumer and patient groups. They will also inspire and equip the next generation of researchers with valuable knowledge and transferable skills to sustain long-term progress. Our outputs will feed into evidence-based policy on transitioning to sustainable, healthy plant-rich diets, achieved via our strategic links with key policy stakeholders in health, nutrition/ food standards and biological standards, thereby, underpinning healthcare applications. This will improve human health and reduce the burden on the NHS whilst providing economic gains in the food, biopharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.