Impact of protein on the composition and metabolism of the human gut microbiota and health

• Published in: Proceedings of the Nutrition Society Vol. 80; no. 2; pp. 173 - 185
• Main Authors: Duncan, Sylvia H., Iyer, Ajay, Russell, Wendy R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.05.2021
• Subjects: Amines; Amino acids; Bacteria; Carbohydrates; Carbon; Climate change; Colon; Composition; Diet; Digestive system; Energy sources; Environmental factors; Environmental impact; Enzymes; Fermentation; Food; Food security; Gastrointestinal tract; Genomes; Genotoxicity; Heterocyclic amines; Hydrogen sulfide; Intestinal microflora; Intestine; Large intestine; Metabolism; Metabolites; Microbiota; Microorganisms; Nitrosamines; Nutrition Society Live 2020; Pandemics; Peptides; Protein composition; Protein turnover; Proteins; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Species; Substrates; Symposium Three: Physiological determinants for protein requirements; United Kingdom > UK; Gut microbiota; Macronutrients; Carbohydrates; Amino acids; SCFA; Protein
• ISSN: 0029-6651; 1475-2719
• DOI: 10.1017/S0029665120008022

The composition and metabolic activity of the bacteria that inhabit the large intestine can have a major impact on health. Despite considerable inter-individual variation across bacterial species, the dominant phyla are generally highly conserved. There are several exogenous and gut environmental factors that play a role in modulating the composition and activities of colonic bacteria including diet with intakes of different macronutrients, including protein, accounting for approximately 20% of the microbial variation. Certain bacterial species tend to be considered as generalists and can metabolise a broad range of substrates, including both carbohydrate- and protein-derived substrates, whilst other species are specialists with a rather limited metabolic capacity. Metabolism of peptides and amino acids by gut bacteria can result in the formation of a wide range of metabolites several of which are considered deleterious to health including nitrosamines, heterocyclic amines and hydrogen sulphide as some of these products are genotoxic and have been linked to colonic disease. Beneficial metabolites however include SCFA and certain species can use amino acids to form butyrate which is the major energy source for colonocytes. The impact on health may however depend on the source of these products. In this review, we consider the impact of diet, particularly protein diets, on modulating the composition of the gut microbiota and likely health consequences and the potential impact of climate change and food security.