Live and Diet by Your Gut Microbiota

Diet influences health in multiple ways. One important effect of diet is on the gut microbiota. The effects of diet are often related to an individual's specific microbiota composition. The close links between health, diet, and gut microbiota are illustrated in a new mouse model of sepsis where the combination of a high-fat/low-fiber Western diet, antibiotics, and surgery promotes the development of lethal sepsis. Diet can also influence infection via the gut microbiota beyond sepsis. Future studies with this model may inform the use of microbiota analysis and personalized diets to protect surgery patients from infection and sepsis.