“You are what you eat” The gut microbiota and cardiometabolic disease

The combination of obesity related disorders and cardiometabolic disease has now reached epidemic proportions, threatening to overwhelm healthcare services in the developed industrialised world. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality worldwide, accounting for a third of total annual death. Current strategies for fighting symptomatic cardiometabolic disease rely heavily on labour intensive surgical procedures or drugs with limited efficacy and potentially hazardous secondary effects. Therefore, new thinking and treatment approaches are urgently required to fight CVD in the midst of the current metabolic syndrome pandemic.

The human gut is inhabited by a rich community of trillions of microorganisms known as the gut microbiota. The presence of these bacteria, yeasts, viruses and protozoa inside the human body is a consequence of millions of years of co-evolution, during which microorganisms have adapted to take advantage of the sheltering environment that is our gut. The gut microbiota as a “super-organism/ organ” has developed strategies so as to be immune-tolerated by our body. The host (our body) enjoys the fruits of these commensal microorganisms since they offer a protection against pathogenic gastrointestinal infections, improve digestion and provide key macro and micronutrients essential for health. However, the gut microbiota must be tightly controlled by our body since changes within this microbial community may initiate health disorders.