Mark J S Miller
Healthy Directions, USA
Title: Nutrient – microbiome interactions: Historical considerations and future trends
Biography
Biography: Mark J S Miller
Abstract
Taking the now established concept that as individuals we are a community, an individual can be defined as a collective of our own mammalian cells, in addition to the litany of different microbes that live on us, and in us. Approaching “self†as a community allows for us to better appreciate health and disease. We need to think beyond systems and changes in receptors/enzymes and related targets for drugs in the 20th century, to consider cellular approaches to health. In other words, what we can do to control the make-up and function of our community as a driver for health. Nutrition can play a huge part because the type of food, as well as quantity, can dictate the function and form of our bacterial community. The old adage “you are what you eat†takes on a very specific meaning. Using research examples stemming from neonates, who are the commencement of colonization, and therefore becoming their true entities, to societies who have not been exposed to antibiotics and different diets, to the chronic health issues on modern societies, we can draw attention to a critical determinant of health and disease, namely nutrient-microbiome interactions.