The dietary pattern that characterizes the Western diet is strongly associated with obesity and related metabolic diseases, but biological mechanisms supporting these associations remain largely unknown.

We argue that the Western diet promotes inflammation that arises from both structural and behavioral changes in the resident microbiome.

The environment created in the gut by ultra-processed foods, a hallmark of the Western diet, is an evolutionarily unique selection ground for microbes that can promote diverse forms of inflammatory disease.

Recognizing the importance of the microbiome in the development of diet-related disease has implications for future research, public dietary advice as well as food production practices.

Research into food patterns suggests that whole foods are a common denominator of diets associated with a low level of diet-related disease. Hence, by studying how ultra-processing changes the properties of whole foods and how these foods affect the gut microbiome, more useful dietary guidelines can be made.

Innovations in food production should be focusing on enabling health in the super-organism of man and microbe, and stronger regulation of potentially hazardous components of food products is warranted.

 

Ultra-Processed Foods as Drivers of Diet-Related Disease

Factors that Promote Inflammation through Diet-Microbiome-Host Interactions

Acellular Nutrients—A Major Shift in Our Diets

Food Additives

 

Solutions

Probiotic or fermented foods could contain beneficial bacterial molecules left in the foods during fermentation. Studies have shown beneficial effects of fermented milk products on metabolic markers in mice [74,75,76], also independently of the presence of live probiotic bacteria, either in the product or in the gut of the recipient [77]. It has been demonstrated in vitro that metabolites from probiotic bacteria are capable of reducing the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines 

A large body of research now supports the hypothesis that the Western Diet is causing changes in gut microbiota associated with obesity and metabolic disease [67]. There also seems to be consensus that fixing the diet-induced dysbiosis is a possible approach in fighting the obesity epidemic [108]. Several researchers speak of the promising potential of gut microbiota-modifying therapies, such as probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics or fecal microbiota transplants and the need for more research into these topics