ABSTRACT
This chapter discussed some of the challenges such as complex relationships among the human host, gut microbiome, and diet; population complexity and diversity between individuals when studying gut microbiota; and how to improve the techniques available to microbiota research, especially the shift from “who is there” to “what do they do” type of approaches to advance our knowledge in this area. This chapter also covers understanding how gut microbiota adapts to changing human lifestyle and future research in determining the details of the gut microbiomes’ involvement in our development and detailing specific aspects of host–microbe relations and the mechanisms underlying them. The direction in optimizing the composition of the formulas of functional food and other food products in maintaining gut health and developing dietary supplements/nutrients to offer new tools in improving host health and to fight against pandemics of cancer, obesity, and other diseases were also discussed. In addition, the challenges of working with heterogenous populations were addressed.
