What is it about?
Climate change affects multifarious factors that shape human diet. Dietary changes can alter the microbiome. Last, microbiome changes can affect the host epigenome and development. Against this background, we ask: Can climate change-induced dietary shifts perturb the human microbiome in ways that impact human health and evolution? If so, how?
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Why is it important?
Although the links between climate change and diet are acknowledged, there is no theoretical framework for assessing how dietary shifts can translate into health consequences and generate adaptive responses. In filling these gaps, our framework helps systematise and address climate-related dietary challenges for policy making and health interventions.
Perspectives
Our work ties two so-far insufficiently connected debates: (i) the effects of global climate change on diet, and (ii) the complex relationship between microbiome, epigenome, and host. It is relevant for scientists working on evolutionary aspects of the human microbiome, and scholars studying climate-change related health issues and policy-making strategies.
Dr Francesco Catania
Westfalische Wilhelms-Universitat Munster
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Global climate change, diet, and the complex relationship between human host and microbiome: Towards an integrated picture, BioEssays, April 2021, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/bies.202100049.
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