Abstract
Background & Aims: Case-control studies have shown that patients with Crohn's disease (CD) have a microbial composition different from healthy individuals. Although the causes of CD are unknown, epidemiologic studies suggest that diet is an important contributor to CD risk, potentially via modulation of bacterial composition and gut inflammation. We hypothesized that long-term dietary clusters (DCs) are associated with gut microbiome compositions and gut inflammation. Our objectives were to identify dietary patterns and assess whether they are associated with alterations in specific gut microbial compositions and subclinical levels of gut inflammation in a cohort of healthy first-degree relatives (FDRs) of patients with CD. Methods: As part of the Genetic, Environmental, Microbial (GEM) Project, we recruited a cohort of 2289 healthy FDRs of patients with CD. Individuals provided stool samples and answered a validated food frequency questionnaire reflecting their habitual diet during the year before sample collection. Unsupervised analysis identified 3 dietary and 3 microbial composition clusters. Results: DC3, resembling the Mediterranean diet, was strongly associated with a defined microbial composition, with an increased abundance of fiber-degrading bacteria, such as Ruminococcus, as well as taxa such as Faecalibacterium. The DC3 diet was also significantly associated with lower levels of subclinical gut inflammation, defined by fecal calprotectin, compared with other dietary patterns. No significant associations were found between individual food items and fecal calprotectin, suggesting that long-term dietary patterns rather than individual food items contribute to subclinical gut inflammation. Additionally, mediation analysis demonstrated that DC3 had a direct effect on subclinical inflammation that was partially mediated by the microbiota. Conclusions: Overall, these results indicated that Mediterranean-like dietary patterns are associated with microbiome and lower intestinal inflammation. This study will help guide future dietary strategies that affect microbial composition and host gut inflammation to prevent diseases.
Original language | American English |
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Pages (from-to) | 685-698 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Gastroenterology |
Volume | 163 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funding This study was supported by grants from Crohn’s and Colitis Canada ( CCC ) Grant #CCC-GEMIII, Canadian Institutes of Health Research ( CIHR ) Grant #CMF108031 , and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. Williams Turpin, Sun-Ho Lee, and Juan Antonio Raygoza Garay are recipients of a fellowship from the Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto. Mei Dong is supported by a Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Grant No. RGPIN-2017-06672 ). Kenneth Croitoru is partially supported by a Canada Research Chair in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.
Funding Information:
Funding This study was supported by grants from Crohn's and Colitis Canada (CCC) Grant #CCC-GEMIII, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Grant #CMF108031, and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. Williams Turpin, Sun-Ho Lee, and Juan Antonio Raygoza Garay are recipients of a fellowship from the Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto. Mei Dong is supported by a Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Grant No. RGPIN-2017-06672). Kenneth Croitoru is partially supported by a Canada Research Chair in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Conflicts of interest The study sponsor was not involved in the study design or in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. David Mack is cofounder of MedBiome Inc. Williams Turpin is a former recipient of a Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Fellowship/Canadian Association of Gastroenterology (CAG)/Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc. The other authors disclose no potential financial, professional, or personal conflicts of interest that are relevant to the manuscript.
Funding Information:
Conflicts of interest The study sponsor was not involved in the study design or in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. David Mack is cofounder of MedBiome Inc. Williams Turpin is a former recipient of a Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Fellowship/Canadian Association of Gastroenterology (CAG)/Ferring Pharmaceuticals Inc. The other authors disclose no potential financial, professional, or personal conflicts of interest that are relevant to the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 AGA Institute
Keywords
- Anti-Inflammatory Diet
- Food Patterns
- Mediation Analysis
- Mediterranean Diet