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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 May 1.
Published in final edited form as: Gastroenterology. 2014 Feb 4;146(6):1564–1572. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2014.01.058

Figure 3. Pathways by which diet could affect health, through the production of metabolites by the intestinal microbiome.

Figure 3

Specific components of diet can serve as substrates for the intestinal microbiome, allowing it to produce specific metabolites that interact with mammalian cells, some in a receptor-mediated fashion. These processes affect host physiology and the development of diseases such as atherosclerosis and the inflammatory bowel diseases. *Possible therapeutic targets.