New Delhi: Millions of microorganisms that live inside human gut play a critical role not just in metabolism of food but in overall health. The type and composition of gut bacteria depend on where we live and what we eat. A study of gut bacteria among groups of Indians has shown that they vastly differ from those found among western populations and even depend on multiple factors like exposure to pollution and cooking medium.
Human microbiome (colonies of bacteria) plays a key role in digestion, fat metabolism, resistance to infection and boosting human immunity against diseases. It is linked to a variety of human conditions ranging from obesity to anxiety and even armpit smell. Thus understanding the dynamics of microbiome could help scientists understand and treat various conditions and diseases.
The new study carried out to understand the nature and composition of gut microbiome of healthy Indians has shown some interesting trends.
The study, published in journal Scientific Reports, was done among healthy individuals living in Ballabhgarh near Faridabad and Leh in Ladakh region of Jammu & Kashmir. The samples from Ballabgarh were categorized into rural and urban, given the fact that rural and urban people have different food habits and patterns of living. Fecal samples were analysed for documenting gut bacteria.
It was found that gut microbiome of Indian population is generally dominated by Firmicutes bacteria followed by Bacteroidetes, Actnobacteria, Proteobacteria, Spirochetes, Verrucomicrobia and Fusobacteria. There was marked variation in the functional compositions of microbiomes of the sample populations from the two regions. The variation was observed between rural and urban areas as well as between plains and high altitude areas.
