For World Digestive Health Day, the American College of Gastroenterology, along with World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO), observes the 2014 focus on the human gut microbiome and its impact on health and disease. Scientific understanding of the gut microbiome - the diverse and complex microbial community that resides in the intestine - has rapidly evolved in recent years. Researchers observe that the gut microbiome resembles an "organ" due to its impact on human health, including metabolism, physiology, nutrition and immunity.
To mark World Digestive Health Day, the College has developed a new podcast, Probiotics: What You Need to Know, featuring Eamonn M. M. Quigley, MD, FACG, Houston Methodist Hospital, and Past President, American College of Gastroenterology. The podcast highlights the benefits of probiotics and offers tips for choosing and taking these beneficial bacteria. Listen to ACG's Probiotics Patient Podcast.
In addition, the College also compiled a Glossary of the Gut Microbiome, a quick guide on commonly used terms of the intestinal microbiota. View the Gut Microbiome Glossary.
Parkinson's disease drug disrupts the gut microbiome by inducing iron deficiency