Donor Diet and the Microbiome in Healthy Volunteers
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Prospective study to assess the effect of a change to Mediterranean diet on the microbiome of health potential FMT donors
IRAS ID
274810
Contact name
Tariq Iqbal
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Head of Research Governance and Integrity
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is the transfer of minimally processed faeces from carefully screened healthy individuals to patients. This treatment is highly effective for the treatment of C.difficile associated diarrhoea and is currently being explored for the treatment of many chronic conditions; the idea being that changing the bugs in the bowel to a healthy profile would reduce inflammation in the body. The Microbiome Treatment Centre (MTC) at the University of Birmingham has the only MHRA licence for producing FMT as a "medicinal treatment" in the public sector in the Uk and we are the biggest recruiter of donors and supplier of FMT in Europe. Whereas it is a reasonable assumption that optimising the diet of donors would enhance the efficacy of FMT very little is known about this in practice. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of a simple Mediterranean diet on the faecal bacterial profile of healthy prospective FMT donors.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/EE/0025
Date of REC Opinion
11 Feb 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion