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Dietary Fiber and the Human Gut Microbiome: Application of Evidence Mapping Methodology
Author(s) -
Sawicki Caleigh,
Livingston Kara,
Obin Martin,
Roberts Susan,
Chung Mei,
McKeown Nicola
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.736.27
Subject(s) - dietary fiber , gut microbiome , microbiome , resistant starch , prebiotic , human studies , food science , medicine , biology , starch , bioinformatics
Evidence mapping is a non‐exhaustive, systematic process by which the breadth of research on a particular topic may be explored. It is useful for summarizing research and influencing new priorities in rapidly developing areas of interest. The aim of this project was to use evidence mapping to summarize published data on dietary fibers and the human gut microbiome. A newly developed comprehensive fiber database, comprised of human intervention studies, identified 141 relevant publications with the following broad outcomes: (1) modulation of colonic microflora and/or (2) colonic fermentation/short‐chain fatty acid production. Descriptive analyses were performed to summarize study design characteristics, fiber exposures, and outcomes. The majority of studies were crossover designs (66%) in adult populations (82%) with healthy baseline status (82%). While 17% were acute studies (蠄1 day), most had a duration of 1‐4 weeks (69%), but there were fewer studies of longer duration (13%). The dietary fibers most frequently examined were resistant starch (14.4%), wheat (7.0%), inulin (7.0%), barley (6.4%), and fructooligosaccharides (6.4%). A total of 7.0% of studies administered an intervention that used a combination of fibers. In the emerging field of dietary fiber and the microbiome, research gaps exist regarding how different fiber types and combinations may effect gut microbiota. This project was supported by a research grant from ILSI North America.