PhD defence: Investigating the impact of diet and intestinal environment on the human gut microbiota

Malte Studnitz Jørgensen

What shapes the trillions of microorganisms living in our gut? 

Diet is important, but it does not act alone. This PhD thesis examines how dietary intake interacts with the intestinal environment to shape the human gut microbiome.

The findings show that habitual consumption of a varied range of plant foods is associated with a more diverse and stable gut microbiota, whereas fiber quantity alone does not explain this relationship.

Notably, short-term perturbation of the intestinal environment through osmotic laxative treatment significantly altered the gut microbiota.

Together, the thesis challenges a purely diet-centric view of microbiome modulation and highlights that commonly used measures of microbial diversity should be interpreted in context rather than as direct markers of health.

Assessment Committee

Professor Faidon Magkos (chair), Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Professor Sahar El Aidy, University of Amsterdam.

Clinical Professor Christian Lodberg Hvas, Aarhus University Hospital.

Supervisors

Associate Professor Henrik Munch Roager, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Place

Building: Niels Bohr Bygningen, Room: Margrethe Bohr Salen, Jagtvej 155, 2200 København.

Copy of thesis

Email address to gain access to the thesis: msj@nexs.ku.dk.

You will either receive a copy of the thesis or be informed where you can read a physical copy.

Recipients of copies of the thesis are not allowed to share or distribute it due to copyright compliance.