The underappreciated diversity of bile acid modifications. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38471500/)

These scientists wanted to learn more about the different ways our bodies and the tiny organisms living inside us change a type of fat called bile acids. To do this, they looked at a huge amount of data collected from different studies. They found special patterns in the data that helped them identify new forms of bile acids that are made when animals eat meat. These special bile acids are also found in humans, and their levels change when people switch from a healthy Mediterranean diet to a less healthy American diet.

By discovering these new forms of bile acids, the scientists showed that there are many more variations of these fats than we knew about before. They also found that by using data from lots of different studies, they can uncover new things about our bodies and how they work. This information will help other scientists in the future when they study how these fats affect our health and why they might be important for preventing or treating diseases.

Mohanty I., Mannochio-Russo H., Schweer JV., El Abiead Y., Bittremieux W., Xing S., Schmid R., Zuffa S., Vasquez F., Muti VB., Zemlin J., Tovar-Herrera OE., Morais S., Desai D., Amin S., Koo I., Turck CW., Mizrahi I., Kris-Etherton PM., Petersen KS., Fleming JA., Huan T., Patterson AD., Siegel D., Hagey LR., Wang M., Aron AT., Dorrestein PC. The underappreciated diversity of bile acid modifications. Cell. 2024 Mar 28;187(7):1801-1818.e20. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.02.019. Epub 2024 Mar 11.