Healthy from soil to gut: the effect of the soil microbiome on human health

The notion that healthy soil results in healthy agricultural products that have a positive influence on the well-being and health of humans is becoming increasingly accepted. Since the soil microbiome will be partially transferred to humans and may have an impact on the nutritional composition of agricultural products, it may also affect human health. This relationship has enormous societal implications because agriculture has a large impact on our environment and food is the number one driver of human health.

With this study, we will for the first time establish the connection between the impact of agriculture on the soil and plant quality/microbiome and the consequences for the health of humans. We will also study the social and political context of this connection. We will achieve this by (1) studying the impact of farming strategies on the soil and crop microbiome and nutritional composition; (2) through advanced data analysis this will be coupled to human health through an intervention study in the HELIUS cohort tracing microbiome changes and its relation to health status; (3) this is embedded in research on opportunities and conflicts in policies and stakeholder-networks and microbiome-related health practises at the household level. The outcomes of step 3 will continuously be fed back into the project and into attempts to achieve impact. Thereby, the project itself will at least in part adapt to its context and gradually achieve more impact.