Interactions Between Gut Microbiota and Lipophilic Vitamins in Health and Disease

The gastrointestinal tract serves as a biologically significant niche for a highly dynamic microbial population described as the gut microbiota. Immunologically, this gut microbiota possesses symbiotic association with the enterocytes and aids in maintenance of intestinal barrier function, and metabolic breakdown of nutrients and drugs. Gut microbiome is known to modulate the intestinal absorption of several dietary products including micronutrients such as vitamins. In turn, several studies have shown that vitamins stimulate or retard the growth of microorganisms in the gut depending on their concentrations in the intestine. Thus, there exists a bidirectional association between vitamins and gut microbiome which plays a role in maintaining the physiological homeostasis. Alterations in the overall gut microbial organization culminates to inflammatory bowel disease, neurological complications, and diabetic episodes among many. Existing paradigm of studies confirm the importance of gut microbiota in the synthetic, metabolic, and functional regulation of most of the water-soluble vitamins in the body. However, similar courses of ideas regarding the lipophilic vitamins remains largely elusive. Herein, we have focused on the detailed understanding of the gut microbiome/lipophilic vitamin interaction axis and its implication in varied disease models studied till date. The understanding of this association shall potentially enable development of novel therapeutic insights and metabolic disease specific nutritional requirements in the years to come.