Microbiome and cardiovascular disease

The microbiome includes a diverse community of bacteria in our gut and its impact on health has spawned the Human Microbiome Project. This immensely rich bacterial community, which is known to respond to fluctuations in lifestyle and diet, is increasingly recognized as an important factor that influences host health and disease. Several diseases have been shown to be influenced by gut microbiota, such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, inflammatory bowel disease and autoimmune disease. Even though the importance of the gut microbiome has been recognized, the role of environmental factors like high salt on the gut microbiome as well as the role for the gut microbiota in hypertension-induced target organ damage is not known. The project addresses these isuues.