Metabolism of Alimentary Compounds by the Intestinal Microbiota and Health

This book provides an overview of the metabolism of dietary compounds by the intestinal microbiota, and on the consequences of such metabolic activity on host metabolism and physiological functions; both in intestinal and peripheral tissues.

Over the last years, our understanding of the causal links between microbiota metabolic activity towards dietary and endogenous substrates and human health status has evolved extensively. In this context, the book starts with a comprehensive introduction devoted to the physiological and metabolic functions of the intestinal epithelium, followed by a part dedicated to the way intestine offers board and lodging for microbes being on a short- or long-term stay. The next chapters focus on the utilization of the available substrates from diet by the intestinal bacteria to produce numerous bacterial metabolites, and on the impact of such microbial activity, in the first place for communication between microbes, and for communication between microbes and lodging host. As will be detailed, this latter process of interkingdom communication leads to either beneficial or deleterious effects on intestinal physiology and metabolism. Special attention is given to selected pathophysiological processes namely chronic intestinal inflammation, colorectal carcinogenesis, and diarrhea. Then, the effects of modifications of bacterial metabolites and other bioactive compounds by the host after intestinal absorption, and consequences for peripheral tissue functions are presented.

Summarizing the state of the art on what is known about the metabolic crosstalk between gut microbiota and human metabolism, as well as perspectives for further experimental and clinical research, this book provides a useful resource for researchers, professionals, and students with a background in biology, and/or nutrition, medicine, pharmacology, and for those which are involved in the agriculture and food production. By explaining technical terms all along the text, this book should be understandable also for interested non-specialists.

François Blachier worked as Research Director at the National Institute for Agriculture, Alimentation and Environment (INRAe). He was deputy director of the Nutrition Physiology and Alimentary Behavior laboratory, which is one of the research units belonging to the Université Paris-Saclay/AgroParisTech/INRAe consortium. After working as research assistant at McGill University in Montréal (Canada), at Brussels Free University (Belgium), and at the Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics in Cambridge (UK), he received his PhD in Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology from Université Pierre and Marie Curie (Paris, France), and then joined INRAe. Presently, his main research interest is related to the metabolic crosstalk between the bacteria living in our gut and ourselves, and on the consequences of such bacterial metabolic activity towards dietary compounds on the intestinal metabolism and physiology in different situations including healthy state, and mucosal healing after an inflammatory episode. He has published over 170 articles (source PubMed) that have been cited over 9 000 times (Research Gate). He has worked as an expert for numerous international scientific organizations and received numerous invitations to give lectures in Europe, USA, Canada, China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, and Togo. François Blachier worked as associate editor for the journals Amino Acids, and as member of the editorial board of the journals Microorganisms, Nutrition Research and Practice, Animal Nutrition and Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology; and as academic editor for PLoS ONE.