Novel intestinal bacterium provides human gut with healthy compounds

Description

Fibers in our food are thought to be good for health since they are converted in the intestinal tract into the favourable compound butyrate, that is crucial to maintain intestinal health. In contrast, protein is believed to be less healthy since intestinal fermentation of the building blocks of proteins, amino acids, generates undesired compounds. This latter picture is now changing since a novel intestinal bacterium has been isolated by the researcher Nam Bui and co-workers at Wageningen University The team reported their findings in the December 1 issue of Nature Communications.