As part of the University of Kyrenia Faculty of Health Sciences Seminars, the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics organized an event on Microbiota.

At the event that took place on 28 April, 2022, Acıbadem University Faculty of Health Sciences Dean and Head of Nutrition and Dietetics Department Prof. Murat Baş and from the University of Kyrenia Faculty of Health Sciences, Asst. Prof. Özel Yürüker attended as a speaker.

In the seminar held in Prof. Dr. İlkay Salihoğlu Republic Hall, University of Kyrenia Vice Rector and Dean of Faculty of Medicine Prof. Dr. Rüveyde Bundak, Dean of the University of Kyrenia Faculty of Health Sciences Prof. Dr. Bekir Uğur Ergür, Head of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Asst. Prof. Şevket Direktör, academicians and students were present.

Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences Prof. Dr. Bekir Uğur Ergür thanked all the participants, especially the speakers, and those who contributed to the organization at the opening of the seminar.

Speaking at the seminar, Asst. Prof. Dr. Özel Yürüker in her presentation on “The Relationship between Microbiota and Immune System”, talked about how the immune system works in general, the components of the immune system and the organs that make up this system.

Explaining in detail the questions of what is the microbiota and what it consists of, Asst. Prof. Dr. Özel Yürüker emphasized the hygiene hypothesis, first proposed by David Strachan in 1989, and underlined that the more a person lives in an environment where there is less contact with infectious agents, the worse the immune system is trained.

The most important elements of a healthy diet are timing, content and quantity.
Making a speech titled as “Microbiota, Diet and Energy Balance”, Prof. Dr. Murat Baş, on the other hand, first mentioned the function of the digestive canal and its structure that changes according to the person.

Underlining the importance of the mucus layer in this context, Prof. Dr. Baş said that metabolic problems and chronic diseases might occur when intestinal integrity is disrupted for various reasons.

Listing the key factors affecting the intestinal microbiota, Acıbadem University Faculty of Health Sciences Dean Prof. Dr. Murat Baş focused on the effect of diet on microbiota and referred to the concept of dysbiosis, which means the loss of beneficial organisms, and reminded that it causes diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cancer.

Prof. Dr. Baş also touched upon the relationship between nutritional habits and microbiota through the effect of the environment in which individuals live on the increase in diseases, and also emphasized the importance of the Mediterranean diet.

Adding that the most important elements of a healthy diet are timing, content and quantity, Prof. Dr Murat Baş in the continuation of his speech, also mentioned different topics such as the connection between the brain and the gut (nervus vagus), polyphenols, and the TMAO molecule.

At the end of the seminar, which was completed with a question and answer session, Prof. Dr. Rüveyde Bundak presented a plaque to Prof. Dr. Murat Baş, while the members of the University of Kyrenia Nutrition and Dietetics Club presented a bouquet of flowers to the speakers.