Microbiome Research Advances, and Limitations, for Dietary Supplements

Now that startups can deliver at-home microbiome testing kits straight to your door, and with do-it-yourself fecal transplants a topic of polite conversation, we can safely say that consumer interest in the vast community of organisms that inhabit our bodies-that is to say, the microbiome-has hit mainstream status.

But rank-and-file civilians are merely catching up with the scientific community, which has been intrigued by the identity-and the implications-of the bacteria, fungi, and even viruses that make us…well, us since long before the National Institutes of Health launched the Human Microbiome Project in 2008.

And all along, research findings have had no trouble keeping investigators’ attention rapt-or keeping the dietary supplement space licking its chops at the prospect of products that can harness the microbiome’s benefits. As Joseph Petrosino, PhD, professor, Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX), notes, “Excitement exists because the microbiome is being shown to impact health and disease broadly, and may be readily modified to treat a specific disease state without the side effects attributed to other drug treatments.”

But it’s a long way from here to there, with plenty still to learn. Nonetheless, experts agree: No matter how long it takes to put the puzzle together, the pieces are already falling into place.

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