Non-invasive continuous gut microbial fermentation measurement for health and disease
This project will create and validate a novel continuous measurement system to study non-invasive fermentation and metabolism induced by food, lifestyle factors or medication over the day. In this multidisciplinary project, we have experts in animal and human physiology, engineers within the setting of human and animal scientific research, 2 technical companies, food industry as well as end users (health professionals and patient organisations). This project covers the whole spectrum from technical development to relevance for human disease prevention.
Evidence is accumulating that the gut microbiome is involved in the aetiology of chronic metabolic, immune and brain-related diseases. The gut microbiota is able to ferment indigestible food components, thereby yielding metabolites that impact the metabolism of the host. Several types of medication, diet, and other environmental factors, have shown to alter the gut microbial fermentation capacity. Steering the fermentation towards products beneficial for gut, metabolic and mental health through food would lead to more effective prevention and treatment of chronic metabolic diseases. To date, it is not yet possible to study continuous real-time microbial fermentation in humans, which limits the development and testing of new products and intervention strategies.
The continuous measurement system to study fermentation over time in humans, developed in this project, will deliver fundamental data to better understand the interplay between diet, other environmental factors and the gut microbial fermentation. Through this, it can be used to steer the production of beneficial fermentation products in the intestine with food products or lifestyle intervention strategies to support gut, metabolic, immune and brain health.
At first, sensor techniques for measuring the very low concentrations of fermentation gasses will be selected and/or developed. Subsequently, these sensors will be implemented in human respiration/fermentation chamber for validation. Lastly, mechanistic deepening will occur in animal studies. Throughout the project, methodology and new scientific insights will be disseminated.
