Dietary impact on small intestinal microbiome

The gut microbiota is increasingly being implicated in disease. However, due to difficulty accessing the small bowel and the relative paucity of bacteria in this area, the small bowel microbiota is infrequently evaluated in any studies of this nature. Some studies have begun to characterize the bacterial composition and function of the small bowel microbiome, primarily using ileostomy effluent samples, which correlate with aspirates; however these were small and preliminary investigations. Overall, the small bowel microbiota remains an unexplored area of the gastrointestinal tract. Characterization of the microbial community and its function is the first step in determining how it potentially affects health and disease. We tested how consumption of a Western diet alters the small bowel luminal and mucosa associated microbial communities of healthy individuals on a baseline healthy diet.