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Food Matrix And The Microbiome: Considerations For Preclinical Chronic Disease Studies, Robert E. Ward, Abby D. Benninghoff, Korry J. Hintze

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

Animal models of chronic disease are continuously being refined and have evolved with the goal of increasing the translation of results to human populations. Examples of this progress include transgenic models and germ-free animals conventionalized with human microbiota. The gut microbiome is involved in the etiology of several chronic diseases. Therefore, consideration of the experimental conditions that may affect the gut microbiome in preclinical disease is very important. Of note, diet plays a large role in shaping the gut microbiome and can be a source of variation between animal models and human populations. Traditionally, nutrition researchers have focused on manipulating …