Gut bacteria metabolize nutrients from plants with known health benefits differently in healthy and diseased people, according to research that could help create health-promoting diets tailored for a particular individual.

Large-scale systematic mapping showed that gut microbial enzymes were able to biotransform hundreds of dietary, plant-derived food compounds—or phytonutrients—according to the study in Nature Microbiology .

However, this metabolic potential varied according to the health of a person and suggested that biotransformational potential was affected by disease.

It also underscored the central role of gut microbiota in mediating the health effects of diet, reported Lu Zhang, PhD, from Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology in German, and col

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