Linking lifestyle with microbiota and risk of chronic inflammatory disorders

Abstract

The inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, are among several immune-mediated disorders that consistently increase in incidence and prevalence when a society undergoes transition from ‘developing’ to ‘developed’ status. The impact of a changing lifestyle and environment associated with modernisation is greatest during early life. The mechanism may involve an alteration in composition or metabolic activity of the commensal microbiota colonising the host during early life. Since the commensal microbiota influences immunologic maturation and shapes the function of the developing immune system, disturbances in microbial biodiversity may contribute to individual variations in immunologic behaviour during and after childhood. Thus, an environmental influence on the commensal microbiota may underpin much of the changing epidemiology common to several immune-mediated chronic inflammatory disorders.