The findings, published in the journal Genome Research sheds new light on virus populations in the gut, how they differ from person to person and how they respond to what consumers eat.
The study included six healthy volunteers who were assigned to eat either a high-fat/low-fibre diet, a low-fat/high-fibre diet or an ad-lib diet. The researchers analysed DNA from viruses in the stools of the participants over eight days.
Senior author Frederic Bushman, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, says: “The study provides a new window on the vast viral populations that live in the human gut, and demonstrates that they vary radically between individuals and shows that dietary changes can affect not just bacterial populations but also viral populations.”
Source: Genome Research
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