Our intestines contain millions of bacteria that help keep us healthy. They do a diverse range of things for us, and the gut microbiota (the total bacteria present) differs not only from person to person, but also differs based on the region that you live in . The gut microbiota of people that live here in North America will be drastically different than that of people from Asia, largely because our diets are very different. The North American diet tends to be high in fat. Little research has been done on the effects of a high fat diet on gut microbiota.
A study published last week in Nature found that dietary fat can alter the gut microbiota of mice, by changing the pool of bile acids. They compared diets high in milk fat and high in plant oils (unsaturated fat). Those mice that were fed a diet high in milk fat were still healthy, but had a change in their gut microbiota. If the mice were lacking an inflammatory signalling molecule called IL-10 they had an increased risk of developing colitis.
An introduction to the article:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v487/n7405/full/487047a.html
The article:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v487/n7405/full/nature11225.html
Dietary-fat-induced taurocholic acid promotes pathobiont expansion and colitis in Il10-/- mice
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