Nutrition and Gut Health Science at IAFNS

The IAFNS Nutrition for Gut Health Committee mobilizes members from government, industry and academia to drive, fund and lead actionable science

Improving Gut Health

Through its tripartite model—bringing together scientists from government, academia, and industry—the Nutrition for Gut Health Committee funds external researchers and convenes experts to advance science around the influence of the diet on gut health.

The Committee advances and communicates the scientific understanding of the impact of diet and dietary constituents on both gut and host health.

Funded Projects Gut Barrier_m_178768556

Explore recent publications and events from the Nutrition for Gut Health Committee.

Join Us! >

Committee Members

Focus Areas

Shared Definitions
Shared Definitions

Shared Definitions & Measures

Advance shared definitions and approaches to measurement of gut health and gut microbiome across researchers, health professionals and other stakeholders to enable research synthesis and clarity of communication.

Optimize Gut & Host Health
Communicate Evidence
Live Dietary Microbes

Webinar Series

The Nutrition for Gut Health Committee has initiated a webinar series to help guide the committee’s research and projects, and provide updated science to the food and nutrition community in this complex area.

These webinars qualify for Certified Food Scientist (CFS) recertification contact hours (CH). CFS certificants may claim a maximum of 1.0 CH for each webinar/session they view with a maximum of 8 hours a day.

Access the Webinar Series

Projects Supported by the Committee

Documenting the Continuum of Measures from Health to Disease

“Gut Health: A New Objective in Medicine?” (Bischoff, 2011), noted that gut health is recognized as a “desirable aim and an important physiological condition required […]

Read More

Investigation of the Relationship Between Live Dietary Microbe Intake and Health Outcomes, Using the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES)

Research has shown that the consumption of live microbes, including and beyond probiotics, is associated with health benefits. Fermented foods, such as yogurt and kimchi, […]

Read More

Understanding and Advancing Best Practices for Human Nutrition & Gut Microbiome Research

In 2017, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) collaborated with the US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) to develop and document “Considerations for […]

Read More
Load More

Sharing Our Science

Committee Publications

Filter

Best Practices and Considerations for Conducting Research on Diet-Gut Microbiome Interactions and their Impact on Health in Adult Populations: An Umbrella Review

Advances in Nutrition, 2025

Finding causal links between diet-gut microbiome interactions and health is complicated by variability in research methods and reporting.

Read more about Best Practices and Considerations for Conducting Research on Diet-Gut Microbiome Interactions and their Impact on Health in Adult Populations: An Umbrella Review

WP_Query Object
(
    [query] => Array
        (
            [post_type] => publication
            [posts_per_page] => 2
            [type] => 
            [area] => 
            [committee] => gut microbiome
            [authors] => 
            [showtitle] => false
            [meta_query] => Array
                (
                    [relation] => AND
                )

            [maxyears] => 0
            [tax_query] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [taxonomy] => ilsi_committee
                            [field] => name
                            [terms] => gut microbiome
                        )

                )

            [paged] => 1
            [meta_key] => _ilsi_date
            [orderby] => meta_value
            [order] => DESC
        )

    [query_vars] => Array
        (
            [post_type] => publication
            [posts_per_page] => 2
            [type] => 
            [area] => 
            [committee] => gut microbiome
            [authors] => 
            [showtitle] => false
            [meta_query] => Array
                (
                    [relation] => AND
                )

            [maxyears] => 0
            [tax_query] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [taxonomy] => ilsi_committee
                            [field] => name
                            [terms] => gut microbiome
                        )

                )

            [paged] => 1
            [meta_key] => _ilsi_date
            [orderby] => meta_value
            [order] => DESC
            [error] => 
            [m] => 
            [p] => 0
            [post_parent] => 
            [subpost] => 
            [subpost_id] => 
            [attachment] => 
            [attachment_id] => 0
            [name] => 
            [pagename] => 
            [page_id] => 0
            [second] => 
            [minute] => 
            [hour] => 
            [day] => 0
            [monthnum] => 0
            [year] => 0
            [w] => 0
            [category_name] => 
            [tag] => 
            [cat] => 
            [tag_id] => 
            [author] => 
            [author_name] => 
            [feed] => 
            [tb] => 
            [meta_value] => 
            [preview] => 
            [s] => 
            [sentence] => 
            [title] => 
            [fields] => all
            [menu_order] => 
             => 
            [category__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [category__not_in] => Array
                (
                )

            [category__and] => Array
                (
                )

            [post__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [post__not_in] => Array
                (
                )

            [post_name__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [tag__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [tag__not_in] => Array
                (
                )

            [tag__and] => Array
                (
                )

            [tag_slug__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [tag_slug__and] => Array
                (
                )

            [post_parent__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [post_parent__not_in] => Array
                (
                )

            [author__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [author__not_in] => Array
                (
                )

            [search_columns] => Array
                (
                )

            [ignore_sticky_posts] => 
            [suppress_filters] => 
            [cache_results] => 1
            [update_post_term_cache] => 1
            [update_menu_item_cache] => 
            [lazy_load_term_meta] => 1
            [update_post_meta_cache] => 1
            [nopaging] => 
            [comments_per_page] => 50
            [no_found_rows] => 
            [taxonomy] => ilsi_committee
            [term_id] => gut microbiome
        )

    [tax_query] => WP_Tax_Query Object
        (
            [queries] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [taxonomy] => ilsi_committee
                            [terms] => Array
                                (
                                    [0] => gut microbiome
                                )

                            [field] => name
                            [operator] => IN
                            [include_children] => 1
                        )

                )

            [relation] => AND
            [table_aliases:protected] => Array
                (
                    [0] => wp_term_relationships
                )

            [queried_terms] => Array
                (
                    [ilsi_committee] => Array
                        (
                            [terms] => Array
                                (
                                    [0] => gut microbiome
                                )

                            [field] => name
                        )

                )

            [primary_table] => wp_posts
            [primary_id_column] => ID
        )

    [meta_query] => WP_Meta_Query Object
        (
            [queries] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [key] => _ilsi_date
                        )

                    [relation] => OR
                )

            [relation] => AND
            [meta_table] => wp_postmeta
            [meta_id_column] => post_id
            [primary_table] => wp_posts
            [primary_id_column] => ID
            [table_aliases:protected] => Array
                (
                    [0] => wp_postmeta
                )

            [clauses:protected] => Array
                (
                    [wp_postmeta] => Array
                        (
                            [key] => _ilsi_date
                            [compare] => =
                            [compare_key] => =
                            [alias] => wp_postmeta
                            [cast] => CHAR
                        )

                )

            [has_or_relation:protected] => 
        )

    [date_query] => 
    [request] => SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS  wp_posts.ID
					 FROM wp_posts  LEFT JOIN wp_term_relationships ON (wp_posts.ID = wp_term_relationships.object_id) INNER JOIN wp_postmeta ON ( wp_posts.ID = wp_postmeta.post_id )
					 WHERE 1=1  AND ( 
  wp_term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id IN (443)
) AND ( 
  wp_postmeta.meta_key = '_ilsi_date'
) AND ((wp_posts.post_type = 'publication' AND (wp_posts.post_status = 'publish' OR wp_posts.post_status = 'acf-disabled')))
					 GROUP BY wp_posts.ID
					 ORDER BY wp_postmeta.meta_value DESC
					 LIMIT 0, 2
    [posts] => Array
        (
            [0] => WP_Post Object
                (
                    [ID] => 37661
                    [post_author] => 291
                    [post_date] => 2025-04-03 14:15:24
                    [post_date_gmt] => 2025-04-03 18:15:24
                    [post_content] => 
                    [post_title] => Best Practices and Considerations for Conducting Research on Diet-Gut Microbiome Interactions and their Impact on Health in Adult Populations: An Umbrella Review
                    [post_excerpt] => 
                    [post_status] => publish
                    [comment_status] => closed
                    [ping_status] => closed
                    [post_password] => 
                    [post_name] => best-practices-and-considerations-for-conducting-research-on-diet-gut-microbiome-interactions-and-their-impact-on-health-in-adult-populations-an-umbrella-review
                    [to_ping] => 
                    [pinged] => 
                    [post_modified] => 2025-05-02 09:39:23
                    [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-05-02 13:39:23
                    [post_content_filtered] => 
                    [post_parent] => 0
                    [guid] => https://iafns.org/?post_type=publication&p=37661
                    [menu_order] => 0
                    [post_type] => publication
                    [post_mime_type] => 
                    [comment_count] => 0
                    [filter] => raw
                )

            [1] => WP_Post Object
                (
                    [ID] => 37334
                    [post_author] => 291
                    [post_date] => 2025-03-06 20:26:00
                    [post_date_gmt] => 2025-03-07 01:26:00
                    [post_content] => 
                    [post_title] => Multiplatform Metabolomic Interlaboratory Study of a Whole Human Stool Candidate Reference Material from Omnivore and Vegan Donors
                    [post_excerpt] => 
                    [post_status] => publish
                    [comment_status] => closed
                    [ping_status] => closed
                    [post_password] => 
                    [post_name] => multiplatform-metabolomic-interlaboratory-study-of-a-whole-human-stool-candidate-reference-material-from-omnivore-and-vegan-donors
                    [to_ping] => 
                    [pinged] => 
                    [post_modified] => 2025-03-07 11:05:05
                    [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-03-07 16:05:05
                    [post_content_filtered] => 
                    [post_parent] => 0
                    [guid] => https://iafns.org/?post_type=publication&p=37334
                    [menu_order] => 0
                    [post_type] => publication
                    [post_mime_type] => 
                    [comment_count] => 0
                    [filter] => raw
                )

        )

    [post_count] => 2
    [current_post] => -1
    [before_loop] => 
    [in_the_loop] => 
    [post] => WP_Post Object
        (
            [ID] => 37661
            [post_author] => 291
            [post_date] => 2025-04-03 14:15:24
            [post_date_gmt] => 2025-04-03 18:15:24
            [post_content] => 
            [post_title] => Best Practices and Considerations for Conducting Research on Diet-Gut Microbiome Interactions and their Impact on Health in Adult Populations: An Umbrella Review
            [post_excerpt] => 
            [post_status] => publish
            [comment_status] => closed
            [ping_status] => closed
            [post_password] => 
            [post_name] => best-practices-and-considerations-for-conducting-research-on-diet-gut-microbiome-interactions-and-their-impact-on-health-in-adult-populations-an-umbrella-review
            [to_ping] => 
            [pinged] => 
            [post_modified] => 2025-05-02 09:39:23
            [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-05-02 13:39:23
            [post_content_filtered] => 
            [post_parent] => 0
            [guid] => https://iafns.org/?post_type=publication&p=37661
            [menu_order] => 0
            [post_type] => publication
            [post_mime_type] => 
            [comment_count] => 0
            [filter] => raw
        )

    [comment_count] => 0
    [current_comment] => -1
    [found_posts] => 8
    [max_num_pages] => 4
    [max_num_comment_pages] => 0
    [is_single] => 
    [is_preview] => 
    [is_page] => 
    [is_archive] => 1
    [is_date] => 
    [is_year] => 
    [is_month] => 
    [is_day] => 
    [is_time] => 
    [is_author] => 
    [is_category] => 
    [is_tag] => 
    [is_tax] => 1
    [is_search] => 
    [is_feed] => 
    [is_comment_feed] => 
    [is_trackback] => 
    [is_home] => 
    [is_privacy_policy] => 
    [is_404] => 
    [is_embed] => 
    [is_paged] => 
    [is_admin] => 
    [is_attachment] => 
    [is_singular] => 
    [is_robots] => 
    [is_favicon] => 
    [is_posts_page] => 
    [is_post_type_archive] => 
    [query_vars_hash:WP_Query:private] => b1e4a1897d40f5bfee742779fd29f220
    [query_vars_changed:WP_Query:private] => 
    [thumbnails_cached] => 
    [allow_query_attachment_by_filename:protected] => 
    [stopwords:WP_Query:private] => 
    [compat_fields:WP_Query:private] => Array
        (
            [0] => query_vars_hash
            [1] => query_vars_changed
        )

    [compat_methods:WP_Query:private] => Array
        (
            [0] => init_query_flags
            [1] => parse_tax_query
        )

    [query_cache_key:WP_Query:private] => wp_query:4fb15e76ee72709323d517aa7b69d87d:0.30928300 17651090670.28187500 1765109067
)

Committee Events

Filter 
WP_Query Object
(
    [query] => Array
        (
            [post_type] => event
            [posts_per_page] => 2
            [type] => 
            [area] => 
            [before] => 2025-12-07
            [after] => 
            [tags] => gut microbiome
            [showtitle] => false
            [meta_query] => Array
                (
                    [relation] => AND
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [key] => _ilsi_date
                            [value] => 2020-12-07
                            [compare] => >=
                            [type] => DATE
                        )

                )

            [maxyears] => 5
            [paged] => 1
            [tax_query] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [taxonomy] => post_tag
                            [field] => name
                            [terms] => gut microbiome
                        )

                )

            [meta_key] => _ilsi_date
            [orderby] => meta_value
            [order] => DESC
        )

    [query_vars] => Array
        (
            [post_type] => event
            [posts_per_page] => 2
            [type] => 
            [area] => 
            [before] => 2025-12-07
            [after] => 
            [tags] => gut microbiome
            [showtitle] => false
            [meta_query] => Array
                (
                    [relation] => AND
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [key] => _ilsi_date
                            [value] => 2020-12-07
                            [compare] => >=
                            [type] => DATE
                        )

                )

            [maxyears] => 5
            [paged] => 1
            [tax_query] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [taxonomy] => post_tag
                            [field] => name
                            [terms] => gut microbiome
                        )

                )

            [meta_key] => _ilsi_date
            [orderby] => meta_value
            [order] => DESC
            [error] => 
            [m] => 
            [p] => 0
            [post_parent] => 
            [subpost] => 
            [subpost_id] => 
            [attachment] => 
            [attachment_id] => 0
            [name] => 
            [pagename] => 
            [page_id] => 0
            [second] => 
            [minute] => 
            [hour] => 
            [day] => 0
            [monthnum] => 0
            [year] => 0
            [w] => 0
            [category_name] => 
            [tag] => 
            [cat] => 
            [tag_id] => 440
            [author] => 
            [author_name] => 
            [feed] => 
            [tb] => 
            [meta_value] => 
            [preview] => 
            [s] => 
            [sentence] => 
            [title] => 
            [fields] => all
            [menu_order] => 
             => 
            [category__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [category__not_in] => Array
                (
                )

            [category__and] => Array
                (
                )

            [post__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [post__not_in] => Array
                (
                )

            [post_name__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [tag__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [tag__not_in] => Array
                (
                )

            [tag__and] => Array
                (
                )

            [tag_slug__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [tag_slug__and] => Array
                (
                )

            [post_parent__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [post_parent__not_in] => Array
                (
                )

            [author__in] => Array
                (
                )

            [author__not_in] => Array
                (
                )

            [search_columns] => Array
                (
                )

            [ignore_sticky_posts] => 
            [suppress_filters] => 
            [cache_results] => 1
            [update_post_term_cache] => 1
            [update_menu_item_cache] => 
            [lazy_load_term_meta] => 1
            [update_post_meta_cache] => 1
            [nopaging] => 
            [comments_per_page] => 50
            [no_found_rows] => 
        )

    [tax_query] => WP_Tax_Query Object
        (
            [queries] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [taxonomy] => post_tag
                            [terms] => Array
                                (
                                    [0] => gut microbiome
                                )

                            [field] => name
                            [operator] => IN
                            [include_children] => 1
                        )

                )

            [relation] => AND
            [table_aliases:protected] => Array
                (
                    [0] => wp_term_relationships
                )

            [queried_terms] => Array
                (
                    [post_tag] => Array
                        (
                            [terms] => Array
                                (
                                    [0] => gut microbiome
                                )

                            [field] => name
                        )

                )

            [primary_table] => wp_posts
            [primary_id_column] => ID
        )

    [meta_query] => WP_Meta_Query Object
        (
            [queries] => Array
                (
                    [0] => Array
                        (
                            [key] => _ilsi_date
                        )

                    [1] => Array
                        (
                            [0] => Array
                                (
                                    [key] => _ilsi_date
                                    [value] => 2020-12-07
                                    [compare] => >=
                                    [type] => DATE
                                )

                            [relation] => OR
                        )

                    [relation] => AND
                )

            [relation] => AND
            [meta_table] => wp_postmeta
            [meta_id_column] => post_id
            [primary_table] => wp_posts
            [primary_id_column] => ID
            [table_aliases:protected] => Array
                (
                    [0] => wp_postmeta
                    [1] => mt1
                )

            [clauses:protected] => Array
                (
                    [wp_postmeta] => Array
                        (
                            [key] => _ilsi_date
                            [compare] => =
                            [compare_key] => =
                            [alias] => wp_postmeta
                            [cast] => CHAR
                        )

                    [mt1] => Array
                        (
                            [key] => _ilsi_date
                            [value] => 2020-12-07
                            [compare] => >=
                            [type] => DATE
                            [compare_key] => =
                            [alias] => mt1
                            [cast] => DATE
                        )

                )

            [has_or_relation:protected] => 
        )

    [date_query] => 
    [request] => SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS  wp_posts.ID
					 FROM wp_posts  LEFT JOIN wp_term_relationships ON (wp_posts.ID = wp_term_relationships.object_id) INNER JOIN wp_postmeta ON ( wp_posts.ID = wp_postmeta.post_id )  INNER JOIN wp_postmeta AS mt1 ON ( wp_posts.ID = mt1.post_id )
					 WHERE 1=1  AND ( 
  wp_term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id IN (440)
) AND ( 
  wp_postmeta.meta_key = '_ilsi_date' 
  AND 
  ( 
    ( mt1.meta_key = '_ilsi_date' AND CAST(mt1.meta_value AS DATE) >= '2020-12-07' )
  )
) AND ((wp_posts.post_type = 'event' AND (wp_posts.post_status = 'publish' OR wp_posts.post_status = 'acf-disabled')))
					 GROUP BY wp_posts.ID
					 ORDER BY wp_postmeta.meta_value DESC
					 LIMIT 0, 2
    [posts] => Array
        (
            [0] => WP_Post Object
                (
                    [ID] => 39119
                    [post_author] => 291
                    [post_date] => 2025-08-26 09:52:36
                    [post_date_gmt] => 2025-08-26 13:52:36
                    [post_content] => 
                    [post_title] => Everyone Wants It, But What Is it? Understanding how 'Gut Health' is Defined and Implications for Nutrition Professionals
                    [post_excerpt] => 
                    [post_status] => publish
                    [comment_status] => closed
                    [ping_status] => closed
                    [post_password] => 
                    [post_name] => everyone-wants-it-but-what-is-it-understanding-how-gut-health-is-defined-and-implications-for-nutrition-professionals
                    [to_ping] => 
                    [pinged] => 
                    [post_modified] => 2025-11-10 14:52:11
                    [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-11-10 19:52:11
                    [post_content_filtered] => 
                    [post_parent] => 0
                    [guid] => https://iafns.org/?post_type=event&p=39119
                    [menu_order] => 0
                    [post_type] => event
                    [post_mime_type] => 
                    [comment_count] => 0
                    [filter] => raw
                )

            [1] => WP_Post Object
                (
                    [ID] => 38105
                    [post_author] => 291
                    [post_date] => 2025-06-25 15:07:19
                    [post_date_gmt] => 2025-06-25 19:07:19
                    [post_content] => 
                    [post_title] => Dialogue on Research Approaches and Measures of Gut-Brain Axis Effects
                    [post_excerpt] => 
                    [post_status] => publish
                    [comment_status] => closed
                    [ping_status] => closed
                    [post_password] => 
                    [post_name] => dialogue-on-research-approaches-and-measures-of-gut-brain-axis-effects
                    [to_ping] => 
                    [pinged] => 
                    [post_modified] => 2025-09-18 13:00:18
                    [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-09-18 17:00:18
                    [post_content_filtered] => 
                    [post_parent] => 0
                    [guid] => https://iafns.org/?post_type=event&p=38105
                    [menu_order] => 0
                    [post_type] => event
                    [post_mime_type] => 
                    [comment_count] => 0
                    [filter] => raw
                )

        )

    [post_count] => 2
    [current_post] => -1
    [before_loop] => 
    [in_the_loop] => 
    [post] => WP_Post Object
        (
            [ID] => 39119
            [post_author] => 291
            [post_date] => 2025-08-26 09:52:36
            [post_date_gmt] => 2025-08-26 13:52:36
            [post_content] => 
            [post_title] => Everyone Wants It, But What Is it? Understanding how 'Gut Health' is Defined and Implications for Nutrition Professionals
            [post_excerpt] => 
            [post_status] => publish
            [comment_status] => closed
            [ping_status] => closed
            [post_password] => 
            [post_name] => everyone-wants-it-but-what-is-it-understanding-how-gut-health-is-defined-and-implications-for-nutrition-professionals
            [to_ping] => 
            [pinged] => 
            [post_modified] => 2025-11-10 14:52:11
            [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-11-10 19:52:11
            [post_content_filtered] => 
            [post_parent] => 0
            [guid] => https://iafns.org/?post_type=event&p=39119
            [menu_order] => 0
            [post_type] => event
            [post_mime_type] => 
            [comment_count] => 0
            [filter] => raw
        )

    [comment_count] => 0
    [current_comment] => -1
    [found_posts] => 35
    [max_num_pages] => 18
    [max_num_comment_pages] => 0
    [is_single] => 
    [is_preview] => 
    [is_page] => 
    [is_archive] => 1
    [is_date] => 
    [is_year] => 
    [is_month] => 
    [is_day] => 
    [is_time] => 
    [is_author] => 
    [is_category] => 
    [is_tag] => 1
    [is_tax] => 
    [is_search] => 
    [is_feed] => 
    [is_comment_feed] => 
    [is_trackback] => 
    [is_home] => 
    [is_privacy_policy] => 
    [is_404] => 
    [is_embed] => 
    [is_paged] => 
    [is_admin] => 
    [is_attachment] => 
    [is_singular] => 
    [is_robots] => 
    [is_favicon] => 
    [is_posts_page] => 
    [is_post_type_archive] => 
    [query_vars_hash:WP_Query:private] => f02a683290035ad6653ac359d4abdd16
    [query_vars_changed:WP_Query:private] => 
    [thumbnails_cached] => 
    [allow_query_attachment_by_filename:protected] => 
    [stopwords:WP_Query:private] => 
    [compat_fields:WP_Query:private] => Array
        (
            [0] => query_vars_hash
            [1] => query_vars_changed
        )

    [compat_methods:WP_Query:private] => Array
        (
            [0] => init_query_flags
            [1] => parse_tax_query
        )

    [query_cache_key:WP_Query:private] => wp_query:2d36259c1dbaab473c3f5debf0632dd8:0.30928300 17651090670.28187500 1765109067
)