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Newswise — Washington D.C. – Evidence suggests that the millions of microbes in the gut contribute to our physical health by supporting the immune system, maintaining the gut barrier, and even regulating brain function and behavior. And our diet is a critical factor in the function, makeup and activity of those gut microbes.

Identifying and adopting best practice methods would help scientists find answers to how nourishing microbes in the gut improves health. So concluded a panel of experts convened by IAFNS to develop a new of best practices in diet-gut microbiome research. The article appears in a recent volume of the peer-reviewed journal Advances in Nutrition.

According to the , “The overarching goal of this work is to improve study design and reporting to facilitate synthesis and comparison of results across studies to ultimately advance understanding of the causal effects of diet-microbiome interactions on human health and disease.”

Reviewing publications from the last decade, the authors collected best research practices ranging from measuring how closely research subjects adhere to provided diets to biological sample analysis and integrating diet-gut microbiome data. Common challenges that are addressed include sample collection, processing, transport and storage, sequencing protocols, bioinformatics workflows, and optimal statistical approaches. The paper also calls for better study of the dietary intervention durations needed to effect lasting change in the gut microbiome.

Several points of agreement were identified in papers reviewed by the authors, and a recurring theme was that best practices are somewhat dependent upon the research aims, outcomes and feasibility. Multiple knowledge gaps were also identified. The lack of validated dietary intake biomarkers, and the challenge of defining what a “healthy” gut microbiome is, constrain the field.

Using the knowledge we have today, the article aimed to collate considerations for conducting human nutrition research on the gut microbiome and provide guidance for conducting diet-gut microbiome studies by recommending best practices and identifying gaps where agreement on best practices may be lacking. The authors concluded by summarizing identified best practices to “provide a guide for designing and conducting diet-gut microbiome studies,” and proposing several priority areas “where enough progress might be made [on developing best practices] to reach agreement within the nutritional microbiology community in the near-term” to improve reproducibility and advance the field.

According to author Dr. Tatiana Diacova of the University of California Davis, “Taking into consideration the large number of diet-gut microbiome studies available in the literature, it was surprising to learn how little consistency there was in terms of how these studies are being conducted. While the umbrella review does not completely solve the inconsistency issue, it does attempt to take the first step towards establishing a more standardized practice by identifying the areas where diet-gut microbiome experts are generally in agreement and the areas where attempts to find points of agreement are warranted.”

And author Dr. Phil Karl of the US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, said “Diet-gut microbiome interactions have emerged as an important consideration for health, wellness and disease, but there is so much to learn.  We hope that this manuscript will help facilitate learning and discovery by providing a guide for researchers while also stimulating discussion and progress towards improving study design and reporting in the field.”

While largely aimed at other researchers who study the impact of diet and gut microbiome interactions on health, broad adoption of the recommended best practices is likely to accelerate advances in our understanding of health, disease risk reduction and wellness.

The paper is available .

The Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS) is committed to leading positive change across the food and beverage ecosystem. This paper was supported by IAFNS . IAFNS is a 501(c)(3) science-focused nonprofit uniquely positioned to mobilize government, industry and academia to drive, fund and lead actionable research.