Gut Microbiome and Cardiovascular Risk Reduction: Is It Ready for Prime Time?

The gut microbiome is a hot topic in the field of health and nutrition, and there are many commercial companies out there offering to analyze and report back on someone’s microbiome from a stool sample. The most likely explanation for plausible health benefits involves the connections between diet, the gut microbiome and immune function/inflammation. Christopher Gardner, PhD, Director of Nutrition Studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center will offer a uniquely engaging blend of humor and evidence-based science to review recent studies and help you to appreciate the extent to which this exciting new domain in health research is ready for prime time. Planned in collaboration with the Cardiovascular Health and Well-being DPG.

CPE Level: 2
CPEU: 1

Performance Indicators:

• 8.3.6 Keeps abreast of current nutrition and dietetics.
• 4.2.6 Analyzes and synthesizes information and identifies new information, patterns and findings.
• 8.1.2 Applies knowledge of food and nutrition as well as the biological, physical and social sciences in practice.

Learning Objectives

• Identify the most impactful recent research findings regarding diet, gut microbiome, and cardiovascular risk reduction.
• Describe the importance of the differences between prebiotics and probiotics to patients and clients.
• Critically evaluate claims being made by commercial companies who are offering to analyze and provide feedback on the gut microbiome from individual stool samples.

Speaker

Christopher Gardner, PhD, FAHA

Christopher Gardner holds a PhD in Nutrition Science and is the Rehnborg Farquhar Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. For >25 years his research has examined what to eat and what to avoid for optimal health. This includes more than 20 nutrition intervention trials conducted with >2,000 participants. He is also actively involved with the American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, and Menus of Change collaborative involving scientists, business leaders and chefs, focusing on unapologetically delicious, healthy food. Over the past eight years he has collaborated with the internationally renowned microbiology experts from the Sonnenburg lab at Stanford to conduct multiple diet intervention studies exploring the impact on the gut microbiome, immune function and inflammation.