Editorial: Personalized nutrition and gut microbiota: current and future directions

The community of microorganisms inhabiting the gut, collectively known as the gut microbiota, has emerged as a crucial player in orchestrating multifaceted interactions with various organs beyond the gut itself. Through intricate communication with endocrine, humoral, immunological, metabolic, and neural pathways, the gut microbiota exerts a profound influence on fundamental physiological processes and an individual's susceptibility to various diseases. This intricate community, teeming with trillions of microorganisms, harbors over 100 bacterial species, which possess about 150 times more genes than the human genome. Of note, the microbiota composition has revealed high variability across different anatomical sites, and among these, the gut microbiota stands out with particular significance in safeguarding host health.