Personalized nutrition is still in its infancy but it is an increasingly important area of research that may one day help us better plan nutritional interventions to ensure a better response from patients.

When we’re faced with the question of which diet is best for our personal health, the answer isn’t easy. The individual response to dietary interventions varies greatly, and the gut microbiota likely plays a major role. However, several factors influence gut microbiota composition such as genetics, long-term dietary habits, hygiene, geographical location, exercise, as well as antibiotic and probiotic use making it a difficult area to study. Personalized nutrition studies aim to predict clinical response to dietary interventions based on the microbial composition, yet few studies have been conducted in humans.

Can cooking certain foods influence the gut microbiota? A team of researchers has set out to discover whether heat, which changes the properties of different foods, also affects the gut microbiota.

Studies have shown that diet, such as Paleo, high fat vs low-fat diet or Western diet, greatly impacts the gut microbiota composition even more than genetics. Surprisingly, little is known how cooking certain foods might alter the gut microbiota. Since heat changes the chemical and physical properties of foods, researchers wondered if this too affects the gut microbiota.