For better health, gut bacteria of 15 tribes mapped by Indian scientists

For better health, gut bacteria of 15 tribes mapped by Indian scientists

Guwahati: Among researchers across the globe, a group of Indian scientists mapped the gut bacteria of 15 ethnic tribes of the country to understand their role in health, enabling development of personalised medicines and designer diets to suit changing lifestyles.

The research published in the December 2015 edition of Nature Scientific Reports also highlights the resemblance of Gut Bacterial Profile (GBP) of these communities with the profiles of the Mongoloid population of Mongolia, involving 193 healthy individuals from tribes of Assam, Manipur, Sikkim and Telangana.

"Till now there was no such report on the GBP of the ethnic tribes of India. With the rapid economic development coupled with the modernization of lifestyle, the tribal population of India may eventually undergo alteration in GBP and it is important to know the profile of these microorganisms to prepare necessary strategies for action," Mojibur R. Khan, group leader of the study, told reporters.

By charting out the profile, the puzzle of how diet, genes and geography shape GBP and how even minute changes in the milieu of microorganisms have a significant impact on human health, will decipher.

"It will also help us in designing personalized medication and nutritional standards," said Khan, a scientist at Guwahati's Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST).

Other collaborators in the Department of Biotechnology-funded project include Narayan C. Talukdar from Manipur's Institute of Bioresources & Sustainable Development (IBSD) and Rupjyoti Talukdar from Hyderabad's Asian Healthcare Foundation/Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, in addition to IASST.

In 2015, after a major chunk of research directed on the topics of gut bacteria and the human microbiome which are the red hot topics right now made it clear that they're much more important than previously thought.

Practical applications like faecal transplant to fight life-threatening diseases became a reality.

While some of these microbes like the dry parts of the skin, others snuggle up in the warm confines of the mouth or the moist skin folds of underarms. It's a symbiosis: humans offer them residence, they help us live.

But the major chunk of real estate for these bacteria, virus and fungi are the human gut.

Under impaired circumstances, a harmless organism can become a disease-causing one which may result in your overall health becoming topsy-turvy due to the erosion of a, particularly beneficial species. So, common practices like eating curd (or other probiotics) regularly ensure the gut gets its share of good bacteria to ease digestion.

Khan said that as many as 593 bacterial varieties were detected in the profiles and Sikkim tribes showed a "higher abundance" of probiotic bacterial varieties like Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus as they consume more dairy products, including curd.

By intake of dairy products and studying their effects on health, a GBP can be altered and researchers have launched this study as an offshoot to the GBP mapping.

"When compared with the worldwide data on gut bacteria, the Indian tribal population had more similarity with the Mongoloid population of Mongolia. This means either the genetic similarity or the geographical settings have resulted in the particular food habits (such as fermented foods) and resulting gut bacterial profile," said Khan of IASST's Molecular Biology and Microbial Biotechnology Laboratory, Life Science Division.

Khan added, "Furthermore, most of these tribes prepare traditional rice beer using some herbs, which they consume regularly. This may also have some role in their health benefits as it is included in their custom and rituals. We have taken this as an intense area of research to understand the effect of rice beer on GBP and health."(IANS)

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