Cited by 1,052Gut microbiota and healthMicrobial Metabolites in Food BiotechnologyProbiotics and Fermented Foods

The influence of diet on the gut microbiota

Scott, Karen P., Gratz, Silvia W., Sheridan, Paul O., Flint, Harry J., Duncan, Sylvia H.·2013·Pharmacological Research

Abstract

Diet is a major factor driving the composition and metabolism of the colonic microbiota. The amount, type and balance of the main dietary macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins and fats) have a great impact on the large intestinal microbiota. The human colon contains a dense population of bacterial cells that outnumber host cells 10-fold. Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Actinobacteria are the three major phyla that inhabit the human large intestine and these bacteria possess a fascinating array of enzymes that can degrade complex dietary substrates. Certain colonic bacteria are able to metabolise a remarkable variety of substrates whilst other species carry out more specialised activities, including primary degradation of plant cell walls. Microbial metabolism of dietary carbohydrates results mainly in the formation of short chain fatty acids and gases. The major bacterial fermentation products are acetate, propionate and butyrate; and the production of these tends to lower the colonic pH. These weak acids influence the microbial composition and directly affect host health, with butyrate the preferred energy source for the colonocytes. Certain bacterial species in the colon survive by cross-feeding, using either the breakdown products of complex carbohydrate degradation or fermentation products such as lactic acid for growth. Microbial protein metabolism results in additional fermentation products, some of which are potentially harmful to host health. The current 'omic era promises rapid progress towards understanding how diet can be used to modulate the composition and metabolism of the gut microbiota, allowing researchers to provide informed advice, that should improve long-term health status.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.phrs.2012.10.020

Cites

116 of 116 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Soluble, fermentable fiber can increase microbial enzymatic capacity to degrade complex carbohydrates and produce health-promoting SCFAs, namely acetate, propionate, and butyrate.

    “Soluble, fermentable fiber can increase microbial enzymatic capacity to degrade complex carbohydrates and produce health-promoting SCFAs, namely acetate, propionate, and butyrate (114, 118).”

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Scott, K. P., Gratz, S. W., Sheridan, P. O., Flint, H. J., & Duncan, S. H.
Affiliations
University of Aberdeen (GB)
Corresponding author
Scott, Karen P.
Venue
Pharmacological Research
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2013-03
Volume
69
Issue
1
Pages
52-60
ISSN
1043-6618 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2011995221
Cited by
1,052
References
116
Citations by year
2026: 41 · 2025: 72 · 2024: 80 · 2023: 103 · 2022: 86 · 2021: 102 · 2020: 122 · 2019: 90 · 2018: 76 · 2017: 82 · 2016: 55 · 2015: 65 · 2014: 52 · 2013: 24
FWCI
4.11
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Pharmacological Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Microbial Metabolites in Food Biotechnology
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Probiotics and Fermented Foods
Keywords
diet, gut microbiota, colonic microbiota, macronutrients, dietary carbohydrates, short-chain fatty acids, butyrate, colonic fermentation, cross-feeding, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, actinobacteria, plant cell wall degradation, colonic pH, host health
MeSH terms
Animals, Bacteria, Diet, Fermentation, Humans, Gastrointestinal Tract, Metagenome

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review