The Role of Gut Dysbiosis in Cardiovascular Diseases

The food we eat is the most common environmental exposureEnvironmental exposure to our gut. The food is metabolized into various metabolites and the gut microbiotaGut microbiota plays a significant role in metabolism. The gut microbiotaGut microbiota is also involved in maintaining the intestinal barriers and a change in the composition of intestinal microbiota leads to leaky gut syndromeLeaky gut syndrome. This results in exposure of the circulation and other organs to various pathogens and results in chronic inflammation. A change in the composition of the microbiome is called dysbiosisDysbiosis and dysbiosis contributes to various cardiovascular diseasesCardiovascular diseases including atherosclerosisAtherosclerosis, coronary artery diseaseCoronary artery disease, heart failureHeart failure, hypertensionHypertension, valvular disease, and others. This suggests that gut dysbiosisGut dysbiosis might be a therapeutic target to decrease the incidence and severity of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). This chapter focuses on discussing the importance of gut microbiota, dysbiosis, association of dysbiosis with CVDs followed by the role of gut-vascular, gut-brain, and gut-kidney axis in CVDs with dysbiosisDysbiosis.