Adapt the diet to the composition of the intestinal flora. A mathematical model makes it possible to predict the influence of a diet on the intestinal balance of patients.
“A first step towards personalized nutrition. This is how Professor Karine Clément, professor of nutrition at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital (Paris) describes his latest work, carried out in collaboration with the University of Gothenburg (Sweden). Appeared in Cell Metabolism, they conclude to the effectiveness of a new mathematical model which makes it possible to predict the impact of a diet according to the composition of the intestinal flora, the microbiota.
“Decompartmentalize research”
This publication is the first step of a European project, the Metacardis program, coordinated by Prof. Karine Clément. THE’Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition (Ican, located at Pitié-Salpêtrière) and the University of Gothenburg are working together to develop this mathematical model. Nutritional data is provided by the French team. The Swedes are responsible for the development of the calculation software.
“The project is based on the hypothesis that by combining knowledge of food intake and analysis of the microbiota, we can achieve nutrition adapted to everyone”, summarizes Professor Clément, contacted by Why doctor. To achieve this, it was necessary to “decompartmentalize research”, she specifies. Indeed, the mathematical calculation platform is the cornerstone of this hypothesis.
To develop it, Swedish mathematicians used data from a 2013 study at Ican. About fifty obese people participated in a weight loss program with diet intervention. These volunteers also provided samples of their blood and microbiota. Published in Nature, the work shows a real difference according to the richness of the intestinal flora. A “poor” microbiota thus increases the risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases.
Predict production deficits
The mathematical model “observes the exchanges between intestinal bacteria,” explains Karine Clément. These are kinds of factories that use food and turn it into chemicals called metabolites (sugars, amino acids, lipids). All these “factories” do not have the same action. By modulating such foods and such flora profile, different fatty acids or amino acids will be produced. “
This is the first time that a model has succeeded in predicting the influence of diet on metabolite production. Several series of tests, in the laboratory and in the clinic, have confirmed that it works well. This predictive power may prove invaluable to nutritionists in the future, as it opens up a breakthrough in the field of personalized nutrition. “In principle, by combining knowledge about the diet and the flora of the patient, the model can predict production deficits and say what should be changed, with food and probiotics, to reach a level of rich flora” , specifies Karine Clément. And thus find out which patients are most likely to benefit from a change in eating habits.
5 years of waiting
The model still needs to be refined. In the human digestive tract, thousands of bacteria and microorganisms evolve together. A tiny fraction of them is well known, and many interactions remain a mystery. The calculation method has also been simplified: a few bacteria have been placed in interaction with large categories of food (legumes, dairy products, white meat, etc.). “We still need to bring complexity, add interactions, make the model closer to reality,” insists Professor Clément. Because we still have to determine which of the thousands of intestinal bacteria should be targeted. For this nutrition specialist, it will take another 4 to 5 years of work before hoping to use this model in daily practice.
.