In a new study published in the journal Cell Reports, researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine found that the diet and feeding habits have a huge impact on the intestinal microbes and the health of the host, especially in people suffering from obesity and type 2 diabetes. 

During digestion, nutrients are drawn out of liquefied food in the ileum, followed by the absorption of water in the cecum, a section of the intestine that marks the beginning of the colon. Both the processes are intricate, dynamic steps that are influenced by multiple factors, such as the types of food consumed, the timing of consumption, and the microbial residents of the gut, whose presence and behaviors influence digestion, absorption of nutrients, vitamin synthesis, and development of the immune system. 

The researchers found that diet-induced obesity and time-restricted feeding methods in the mice model resulted in a disruption of the gut microbiome rhythms and the signaling pathways that help modulate intestinal clocks. Dr. Ana Carolina Dantas Machado, Ph.D., Postdoctoral scholar in Zarrinpar′s lab stated that restricting food access with a time-restricted feeding helped in the restoration of the circadian clock and metabolic patterns affected by the unhealthy state via new pathways. She also added that the relationship between the microbiome and the host is very complicated because the former factor helps to determine the host’s gastrointestinal functioning and health. 

(Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/health/do-you-know-small-intestinal-microbiome-prevents-obesity-and-type-2-diabetes-in-our-gut-101657607206828.html )