由于种族而被压缩的个人,性认同,性别,或社会经济地位经历许多疾病的患病率较高。了解导致和维持这些社会驱动的健康不平等的生物过程对于解决这些问题至关重要。肠道微生物组受宿主环境的强烈影响,并影响宿主的代谢,免疫,和神经内分泌功能,使其成为社会经验差异的重要途径,政治,经济力量可能导致健康不平等。然而,很少有研究将肠道微生物组直接纳入健康不平等的调查。这里,我们认为,考虑宿主-肠道微生物相互作用将提高对健康不平等的理解和管理,卫生政策必须开始将微生物组视为将环境与人口健康联系起来的重要途径。
Individuals who are minoritized as a result of race, sexual identity, gender, or socioeconomic status experience a higher prevalence of many diseases. Understanding the biological processes that cause and maintain these socially driven health inequities is essential for addressing them. The gut microbiome is strongly shaped by host environments and affects host metabolic, immune, and neuroendocrine functions, making it an important pathway by which differences in experiences caused by social, political, and economic forces could contribute to health inequities. Nevertheless, few studies have directly integrated the gut microbiome into investigations of health inequities. Here, we argue that accounting for host-gut microbe interactions will improve understanding and management of health inequities, and that health policy must begin to consider the microbiome as an important pathway linking environments to population health.