Diet and the human intestinal bacterial flora.

In this review, the factors thought to be important in determining the composition of the gut bacterial flora are discussed. In the light of these, the effects of various dietary manipulations on the composition and metabolic activity of the gut flora are described. In general, the main effects of diet would be expected to be manifested in the right colon, whereas the material available for investigation is feces. Consequently, the data that are available tend to underestimate the effects of diet.