Hypothesis Summary
Patients with Ulcerative Colitis, a form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), generally have a less diverse community of bacteria living in their gut compared to people without IBD. Recently, therapies which specifically target the gut microbiome, such as multi-strain probiotics and Faecal Microbiota Transplant (FMT) have performed well as potential treatments for active UC.
Whether we can use diet to similarly modulate the microbiome towards a healthy state is an exciting area of research, particularly if this leads to reduced gut inflammation and improved response to medication.
We know from many human studies that high fibre foods, fermented foods, and foods high in plant bioactive molecules can all independently modify the gut microbiota composition. For the first time, the UC-TREAT diet will be combining all of these dietary components and will be administered to people with quiescent UC and people without UC.
In our initial proof-of-concept study, we will be testing if people with quiescent UC can tolerate this diet. We will also investigate how it alters their gut microbiota diversity and function in comparison to people without any health conditions.