Quantifying the daily harvest of fermentation products from the human gut microbiota

The authors developed an integrative framework to quantify the daily turnover of fermentation products (FPs) from the human gut microbiota. They experimentally measured FP production and carbohydrate consumption rates for 16 common gut bacterial strains. Using data on diet composition and digestion, they estimated the daily FP “harvest” for humans to be around 500 mmol/day for a 1970s British diet. Diet is the major factor determining total FP harvest, with fiber-rich diets yielding higher harvests. Microbiome composition impacts types of FPs produced but not total amount. Compared to mice, humans get a smaller fraction of daily energy from gut microbiota FPs (1.8–12% vs 21% for lab mice). <a href="https://medium.com/@axialxyz/quantifying-the-daily-harvest-of-fermentation-products-from-the-human-gut-microbiota-e1c16c603b5c">Read More</a>