Interactions between the environmental and human microbiota in the preservation of health and genesis of disease: symposium report

Purpose of review: The purpose of this symposium was to bring thought leaders in the microbiome from the west to Africa to share their unique experiences with African investigators in order to build the foundations for scientifically rigorous explorations into the African human and environmental microbiome that may explain why disease patterns are different in Africa where the chief killers are infectious diseases, whereas noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the major threat to healthcare resources in the developed world.

Recent findings: The application of new high throughput technologies to the investigation of the microbiome and its metabolome has revealed mechanisms whereby a traditional African high fiber diet can suppress NCDs which include colon cancer, inflammatory bowel diseases, obesity, type 2 diabetes and atherosclosis. There is concern that with migration and westernization, NCDs are becoming more common in Africa and that food security is becoming impaired by unbalanced obesogenic foods rather than inadequate food intake.

Summary: There is an urgent need for the formation of combined African-Western research programs to identify what is good and bad in the African diet-microbiome axis to develop strategies to prevent the incidence of NCDs rising to western levels in Africa, at the same time offering novel prevention strategies against the #1 healthcare threat in the developed world.