ヒトの健康保持における腸内菌の役割

The healthy gut environment is complicated and controlled by the balance of intestinal immune system, intestinal microbiota, and microbial metabolites produced by intestinal bacteria. Imbalance of these elements in genetically susceptible persons has been known to promote inflammatory bowel disease and some lifestyle-related illnesses. Manipulation of intestinal microbiota with prebiotics, which can selectively stimulate a growth of beneficial bacteria, might contribute to keep healthy condition and to improve patient’s condition. I present some results of prebiotic effects in animal model and placebo-controlled, crossover study in healthy adults and patients with ulcerative colitis （UC）. Through the clinical study, we found that UC patients had differences in microbiota composition and microbial metabolites. Decrease of Dominant anaerobic bacteria Bacteroides and diversity of microbiota composition was observed in UC. Amount of organic acids produced by bacterial fermentation reflectively decreased. Update on correlation of intestinal bacteria with human health and disease are reviewed.