Cancer Prevention Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
Nutrients. 2021 Apr 14;13(4):1295. doi: 10.3390/nu13041295.
The study of natural plant molecules and their medicinal properties, pharmacognosy, provides a taxonomy for botanical families that represent diverse chemical groupings with potentially distinct functions in relation to human health. Yet, this reservoir of knowledge has not been systematically applied to elucidating the role of patterns of plant food consumption on gut microbial ecology and function. All chemical classes of dietary phytochemicals can affect the composition of the microbes that colonize the gut and their function. In turn, the gut microbiome affects the host via multiple mechanisms including gut barrier function, immune function, satiety and taste regulation and the activity of biological signaling pathways that influence health and disease. Herein, we report the development of a botanical diversity index (BDI) to evaluate plant food consumption as a novel metric for identifying and quantifying phytochemicals to which an individual is exposed. A rationale is advanced for using the BDI to investigate how plant food diversity impacts gut microbial ecology and functionality.
对天然植物分子及其药用特性的研究，即生药学，为代表不同化学分组的植物科提供了一个分类法，这些分组可能与人类健康有着不同的功能关系。然而，这一知识宝库尚未被系统地应用于阐明植物性食物消费模式对肠道微生物生态和功能的作用。所有类别的膳食植物化学物质都可以影响定植在肠道中的微生物的组成及其功能。反过来，肠道微生物组通过多种机制影响宿主，包括肠道屏障功能、免疫功能、饱腹感和味觉调节以及影响健康和疾病的生物信号通路的活性。在此，我们报告了一种植物多样性指数（BDI）的开发，用于评估植物性食物的消费，作为识别和量化个体所接触的植物化学物质的新指标。提出了使用 BDI 来研究植物食物多样性如何影响肠道微生物生态和功能的基本原理。
