Abstract
The microbiome has recently been considered an important component of the host, and its crucial role in maintaining host health is being unveiled. It promotes vitamin synthesis, immune response, colonization resistance, digestion, neurological development, etc. The microbiome begins to develop at birth and continues to mature with age. The meconium microbiome of newborn babies resembles closely to that of the placenta and amniotic microbiome. Infant’s gut microbiome also resemblances the colostrum within a week of breastfeeding. Several other factors influence microbiome development, such as diet, gender, genetics, environment, lifestyle, etc. Fibre-rich vegetables selectively enrich fibre-degrading bacteria, while heavy drinkers are enriched with the genus Neisseria, which has high alcohol dehydrogenase activity, producing acetaldehyde from ethanol. Furthermore, the microbiome of individuals not contacted with western people and from an isolated village exhibits one of the highest microbiome diversities, e.g. individuals from Yanomami Amerindian villages. In addition, significant factors influencing the microbiome are antibiotic treatment, exercise, obesity, age, etc., which directly define the host’s health. In this context, this chapter explores the latest reports on some of the established factors that influence the human microbiome, particularly with regard to diet, smoking, alcohol consumption, environmental factors, antibiotics, age, and BMI.
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The authors thank the research facilities support of Pondicherry University and Central University of Kerala, M.I. thanks to DBT-RA Program in Biotechnology and Life Sciences.
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M.I., S.A.S., and S.B. contributed in preparing the draft of the manuscript and preparing the figures. R.K. and S.B. contributed in critically refining and revising the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the manuscript.
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Imchen, M., Salim, S.A., Kumavath, R., Busi, S. (2023). Factors Affecting the Composition of the Human Microbiome. In: Kothari, V., Kumar, P., Ray, S. (eds) Probiotics, Prebiotics, Synbiotics, and Postbiotics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-1463-0_3
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