FiberNEW2026-09

Targeting the Gut Microbiome in Cardiovascular Disease: Current Therapeutic Strategies and Future Perspectives.

David Diana Elena, Paraschiv Cringuta Mariana, Checherita Laura Elisabeta, Chiriac Stefan Andrei et al. — Nutrients

Summary

This review explores how the bacteria living in our gut, known as the gut microbiome, significantly influence heart and blood vessel health. It examines how changes in these gut bacteria can contribute to conditions like heart disease and high blood pressure. The paper also discusses various ways to modify the gut microbiome, including dietary changes, to potentially prevent or treat these cardiovascular issues.

AI-generated summary — read the original

Key points

The bacteria in your gut play a crucial role in your heart and blood vessel health.
Imbalances in gut bacteria can contribute to various cardiovascular diseases, such as heart disease and high blood pressure.
Modifying your gut microbiome, often through diet, is being explored as a way to prevent and treat these conditions.
Dietary fiber, a type of prebiotic, is one way to positively influence gut bacteria for better heart health.

What the study looked at

This comprehensive review explored whether modifying the bacteria living in our gut, known as the gut microbiome, could be a meaningful strategy to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases. It also aimed to identify which current approaches for gut microbiome modulation are supported by sufficient scientific evidence. This was a narrative review, meaning the researchers systematically gathered and analyzed existing scientific literature on the gut microbiome and various cardiovascular conditions. They did not conduct new experiments or involve human participants directly but rather synthesized findings from numerous published studies. The review found substantial evidence indicating that the gut microbiome significantly influences cardiovascular health. Imbalances in gut bacteria can contribute to conditions like heart disease and high blood pressure through mechanisms involving substances produced by microbes and effects on inflammation. The paper highlighted several promising strategies for influencing the gut microbiome, including dietary interventions (such as increasing fiber intake), the use of prebiotics and probiotics, and other targeted approaches, suggesting their potential role in improving heart health.

Dietary takeaway

This review reinforces the idea that what we eat directly impacts our gut bacteria, which in turn affects our heart health. Incorporating more fiber-rich foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes into your daily diet can help foster a healthy gut microbiome, potentially supporting cardiovascular well-being. Remember, while promising, this is a review of existing research, and individual studies are just one piece of the larger scientific puzzle.

Abstract

The gut microbiota is increasingly recognized as an important modulator of cardiovascular health, demonstrating complicated interactions among diet, metabolism, immunology and host physiology. Evidence is accumulating that changes in the composition and function of the gut microbiome may contribute to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, hypertension, heart failure, thrombosis and other cardiovascular phenotypes through mechanisms involving microbial metabolites, intestinal barrier dysfunction, inflammation and metabolic dysregulation. In this context, the key question of this narrative review is: how far can modulation of the gut microbiome and its metabolic functions be a clinically meaningful approach in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease, and which of the currently available microbiome-targeted approaches have sufficient mechanistic and clinical evidence to justify translation into cardiovascular practice? To answer this question, we review the evidence linking the gut microbiome to major cardiovascular phenotypes, such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, heart failure, thrombosis and atrial fibrillation, with particular focus on the mechanisms through which microbial metabolites, intestinal barrier dysfunction, inflammation and metabolic dysregulation may affect cardiovascular risk. We then review current and emerging strategies for microbiome modulation, including dietary interventions, prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics, fecal microbiota transplantation and targeted inhibition of microbial metabolic pathways such as trimethylamine (TMA)/trimethylamine -oxide (TMAO) production. We also examine bidirectional interactions between cardiovascular drugs and gut microbiome and the role of these interactions in the development of precision methods to cardiovascular prevention and treatment. Finally, we outline the major limitations of the current evidence and highlight goals for future mechanistic, translational and clinical research.

View on PubMed →DOI: 10.3390/nu18183091