Long-term dietary patterns are associated with pro- inflammatory and anti-inflammatory features of the gut microbiome

Researchers found that specific foods and nutrients correlated with species known to have mucosal protection and anti-inflammatory effects, according to data published in Gut.

“We identified dietary patterns that consistently correlate with groups of bacteria with shared functional roles in both health and disease,” Laura A. Bolte, BSc, from the department of gastroenterology and hepatology, University of Groningen and University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands, and colleagues wrote. “Moreover, specific foods and nutrients were associated with species known to infer mucosal protection and anti-inflammatory effects. We propose microbial mechanisms through which the diet affects inflammatory responses in the gut as a rationale for future intervention studies.”

Bolte and colleagues analyzed the relationship between 173 dietary factors and the microbiome of 1,425 patients from different cohorts including Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome and the general population. They profiled gut microbial composition and function with shotgun metagenomic sequencing assessed dietary intake via food frequency questionnaires.

“We performed unsupervised clustering to identify dietary patterns and microbial clusters,” Bolte and colleagues wrote. “Associations between diet and microbial features were explored per cohort, followed by a meta-analysis and heterogeneity estimation.”

The researchers identified 38 links between dietary patterns and microbial clusters. In their meta-analysis of healthy individuals and patients with IBS, Crohn’s disease and UC, investigators found 61 individual foods and nutrients correlated with 61 species and 249 metabolic pathways.

“Processed foods and animal-derived foods were consistently associated with higher abundances of Firmicutes, Ruminococcus species of the Blautia genus and endotoxin synthesis pathways,” Bolte and colleagues wrote. “The opposite was found for plant foods and fish, which were positively associated with short-chain fatty acid-producing commensals and pathways of nutrient metabolism.”

DOI: doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2020-322670.

Story Source:  https://www.healio.com/news/gastroenterology/20210405/diet-patterns-linked-with-gut-proinflammatory-antiinflammatory-features