TY - JOUR

T1 - Advancing human gut microbiota research by considering gut transit time

AU - Procházková, Nicola

AU - Falony, Gwen

AU - Dragsted, Lars Ove

AU - Licht, Tine Rask

AU - Raes, Jeroen

AU - Roager, Henrik Munch

N1 - CURIS 2023 NEXS 003

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Accumulating evidence indicates that gut transit time is a key factor in shaping the gut microbiota composition and activity, which are linked to human health. Both population-wide and small-scale studies have identified transit time as a top covariate contributing to the large interindividual variation in the faecal microbiota composition. Despite this, transit time is still rarely being considered in the field of the human gut microbiome. Here, we review the latest research describing how and why whole gut and segmental transit times varysubstantially between and within individuals, and how variations in gut transit time impact the gut microbiota composition, diversity and metabolism.Furthermore, we discuss the mechanisms by which the gut microbiota may causally affect gut motility. We argue that by taking into account the interindividual and intraindividual differences in gut transit time, we can advance our understanding of diet–microbiota interactions and disease-related microbiome signatures, since these may often be confounded by transient orpersistent alterations in transit time. Altogether, a better understanding of the complex, bidirectional interactions between the gut microbiota and transit time is required to better understand gut microbiome variations in health and disease.

AB - Accumulating evidence indicates that gut transit time is a key factor in shaping the gut microbiota composition and activity, which are linked to human health. Both population-wide and small-scale studies have identified transit time as a top covariate contributing to the large interindividual variation in the faecal microbiota composition. Despite this, transit time is still rarely being considered in the field of the human gut microbiome. Here, we review the latest research describing how and why whole gut and segmental transit times varysubstantially between and within individuals, and how variations in gut transit time impact the gut microbiota composition, diversity and metabolism.Furthermore, we discuss the mechanisms by which the gut microbiota may causally affect gut motility. We argue that by taking into account the interindividual and intraindividual differences in gut transit time, we can advance our understanding of diet–microbiota interactions and disease-related microbiome signatures, since these may often be confounded by transient orpersistent alterations in transit time. Altogether, a better understanding of the complex, bidirectional interactions between the gut microbiota and transit time is required to better understand gut microbiome variations in health and disease.

KW - Faculty of Science

KW - Gut transit time

KW - Gut microbiota composition

KW - Gut microbiota activity

KW - Human health

U2 - 10.1136/gutjnl-2022-328166

DO - 10.1136/gutjnl-2022-328166

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36171079

VL - 72

SP - 180

EP - 191

JO - Gut

JF - Gut

SN - 0017-5749

IS - 1

ER -