in the gut

The study shows, among other things, that changes in the gut environment have an impact on the composition and activity of gut bacteria.

Previously, the activity in the gut has most often been examined via stool samples, which have been compared to what the person had eaten.

Madhavan is now pursuing whether ketone bodies and related metabolites have similar effects outside the brain, such as in the gut.

Scientists recently have come to appreciate the importance, for human health and disease, of microbes -- often called "commensals" -- that naturally dwell in the gut.

Dr. Iliev's lab, which participated in that study, found significantly higher levels of fungal DNA in the gut of these mice -- magnitudes greater than previously observed in lab mice.