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CCFA, UPenn, Nestle partner to advance research in diet, microbiome, IBD
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The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America has partnered with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Nestlé Health Science to advance research on the relationship between diet, the gut microbiome and the development of inflammatory bowel diseases, according to a press release.
“We are delighted to be working with such esteemed partners on this important work,” Caren A. Heller, MD, MBA, CCFA’s chief scientific officer, said in the release. “Determining how diet affects the microbiome — and in turn affects the course of IBD — has major implications for efforts to improve the quality of life for patients and families affected by IBD. This study has tremendous potential to inform the development of novel and alternative therapies that address the cause of IBD, as well as the symptoms.”
Caren A. Heller
The purpose of this study — the Food and Resulting Microbial Metabolites (FARMM) study, part of the CCFA’s Microbiome Initiative — is to determine how different diets affect intestinal bacteria and bacterial products, the release said. Researchers will compare how a defined Western diet, vegan diet or formula diet will affect the gut microbiota and metabolomic profiles of healthy participants after 2 weeks, with a focus on identifying signatures that may be involved in the development or treatment of IBD.
“We hope this research will advance our understanding of the complex relationship between our diet, the microorganisms that live in our gut, and the small molecules they produce that end up circulating throughout our body,” Gary Wu, MD, a professor of gastroenterology from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, co-director of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Microbiome Program, said in the release.
Key findings will include better understanding of how exclusive enteral nutrition induces remission in Crohn’s disease and how antibiotics affect the gut microbiota and the metabolites they produce, according to the release.
“We hope that these discoveries will provide a launch pad for developing novel interventions aimed at manipulating microbial targets with the goal of treating or even preventing IBD without suppressing the immune system,” James Lewis, MD, MSCE, professor of gastroenterology at the Perelman School of Medicine, director of Penn’s gastroenterology and hepatology clinical research program, and study investigator, said in the release.
Funding for this study will be provided by the CCFA and Nestlé Health Science, the release said.