Human Gut Microbiota

Why in News? The Lancet review highlights a novel link between climate change and gut microbiota, an understudied area, as noted by Elena Litchman, MSU Foundation professor at Michigan State University

Relevance : UPSC Pre & Mains

Prelims : gut microbiota/ Gut dysbiosis/ LMICs

Mains :  GS 3 – GS Paper III (Environment & Biodiversity/Science & Tech.

Key points of News:

Health Implications: Gut dysbiosis—an imbalance in gut microbial populations—is associated with diseases like diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, and neurological disorders, making climate-driven disruptions a pressing concern.
Global Relevance: LMICs and Indigenous communities, reliant on local food sources, face heightened risks from climate stressors like high temperatures and elevated CO2, which reduce crop nutrients.

Space Connection: Space technologies, such as satellites used for PGMs (e.g., GPS-guided JDAMs), also monitor climate impacts on agriculture and water systems, aiding research into gut health effects.

Climate-Induced Food Disruptions:

• High atmospheric CO2 reduces micronutrients (e.g., phosphorus, potassium, zinc, iron) and protein in crops like wheat, maize, and rice, impacting gut microbiota diversity.
• Food shortages and undernourishment shift microbial balances toward strains linked to malnutrition and diseases.
• Indigenous communities, with naturally high gut microbial diversity, are particularly vulnerable to changes in local food sources.

Environmental Impacts:

• Climate change alters water, soil, and environmental microbiota, indirectly affecting gut health.
• Heatwaves increase foodborne and waterborne infections, contributing to gut dysbiosis, as noted in a Dialogues in Health review from Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar.

Health Consequences:

• The gut microbiome, with 100 trillion microbes and more genes than the human genome, influences immunity, metabolism, and glucose regulation.
• Reduced bacterial diversity is linked to atopic eczema, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, and neurological disorders ( 2018 BMJ analysis).

Research Challenges:

• Elena Litchman notes that gut microbiota research rarely considers climate change, complicating cause-and-effect studies.
• Sachit Anand ( AIIMS, New Delhi) emphasizes that microbiota-host-environment interactions are gaining attention, with climate change as a key factor.
• Tarini Shankar Ghosh ( IIIT Delhi) warns that climate stressors (e.g., crop changes, infections) act simultaneously, not linearly, requiring complex models.

Vulnerable Regions:

• LMICs face severe agricultural losses due to climate stressors, worsening nutrient deficiencies.
• Indigenous groups, dependent on local ecosystems, risk losing microbial diversity critical for health.