Landmark human study is first to reveal strong links between gut microbes, diet and health
Researchers identified microbes that positively or negatively correlate with an individual's risk of certain serious conditions, including diabetes and heart disease
Diets rich in certain plant-based foods are linked with the presence of gut microbes that are associated with a lower risk of developing conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to recent results from a large-scale international study that included researchers from King's College London, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the University of Trento, Italy, and health science start-up company ZOE.
Key Takeaways
- The largest and most detailed study of its kind uncovered strong links between a person's diet, the microbes in their gut (microbiome) and their health.
- International study uses metagenomics and blood chemical profiling to uncover a panel of 15 gut microbes associated with lower risks (and 15 with higher risks) for common illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.
- Some of the identified microbes are so novel that they have not yet been named.
- These findings could be used to provide personalized dietary advice for better health, based on gut microbiome testing.
The PREDICT 1 study analyzed detailed data on the composition of participants' gut microbiomes, their dietary habits, and cardiometabolic blood biomarkers. The researchers found evidence that the microbiome is linked with specific foods and diets, and that, in turn, certain microbes in the gut are linked to biomarkers of metabolic disease. Surprisingly, the microbiome has a greater association to these markers than other factors, such as genetics. Their report, authored by Dr. Francesco Asnicar (University of Trento) and Dr. Sarah Berry (King's College London) and coordinated by Tim Spector (King's College London) and Nicola Segata (University of Trento), appears in Nature Medicine.
Dr. Sarah Berry, Reader in Nutrition Sciences at King's College London said, "As a nutritional scientist, finding novel microbes that are linked to specific foods, as well as metabolic health, is exciting. Given the highly personalised composition of each individuals' microbiome, our research suggests that we may be able to modify our gut microbiome to optimize our health by choosing the best foods for our unique biology."
For example, the findings reveal that having a microbiome rich in Prevotella copri and Blastocystis species was associated with maintaining a favorable blood sugar level after a meal. Other species were linked to lower post-meal levels of blood fats and markers of inflammation.
Professor Tim Spector, Epidemiologist from King's College London, who started the PREDICT study program and is scientific founder of ZOE explains, "When you eat, you're not just nourishing your body, you're feeding the trillions of microbes that live inside your gut."
Researchers also discovered that the makeup of subjects' gut microbiome was strongly associated with specific nutrients, foods, food groups and overall diet composition. The researchers found robust microbiome-based biomarkers of obesity, as well as markers for cardiovascular disease and impaired glucose tolerance, which are key risk factors for COVID. These findings can be used to help create personalized eating plans designed specifically to improve one's health.
"I am very excited that we have been able to translate this cutting edge science into an at-home test in the time it has taken for the research to be peer reviewed and published," says Spector. "Through ZOE, we can now offer the public an opportunity to discover which of these microbes they have living in their gut. After taking ZOE's at-home test, participants will receive personalized recommendations for what to eat, based on comparing their results with the thousands of participants in the PREDICT studies. By using machine learning, we can then share with you our calculations of how your body will respond to any food, in real-time through an app."
The researchers found in subjects who ate a diet rich in healthy, plant-based foods were more likely to have high levels of 'good' gut microbes. Conversely, diets containing more highly processed plant-based foods were more likely to be associated with the 'bad' gut microbes.
"We were surprised to see such large, clear groups of what we informally call 'good' and 'bad' microbes emerging from our analysis," affirmed Nicola Segata, PhD, professor and principal investigator of the Computational Metagenomics Lab at the University of Trento, Italy and leader of the microbiome analysis in the study. "It is also exciting to see that microbiologists know so little about many of these microbes that they are not even named yet. This is now a big area of focus for us, as we believe they may open new insights in the future into how we could use the gut microbiome as a modifiable target to improve human metabolism and health."
PREDICT 1 was an international collaboration to study links between diet, the microbiome, and biomarkers of cardiometabolic health. The researchers gathered microbiome sequence data, detailed long-term dietary information, and results of hundreds of cardiometabolic blood markers from just over 1,100 participants in the U.K. and the U.S. PREDICT 2 completed its primary investigations in 2020 with a further 1,000 U.S participants, and PREDICT 3 launched a few months ago.
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About King's College London
King's College London is one of the top 10 UK universities in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2018/19) and among the oldest in England. King's has more than 31,000 students (including more than 12,800 postgraduates) from some 150 countries worldwide, and some 8,500 staff.
King's has an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), eighty-four per cent of research at King's was deemed 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent' (3* and 4*).
Since our foundation, King's students and staff have dedicated themselves in the service of society. King's will continue to focus on world-leading education, research and service, and will have an increasingly proactive role to play in a more interconnected, complex world. Visit our website to find out more about Vision 2029, King's strategic vision for the next 12 years to 2029, which will be the 200th anniversary of the founding of the university.
World-changing ideas. Life-changing impact. Kcl.ac.uk
About ZOE
ZOE is a healthcare science company helping people understand their body's responses to food. By using machine learning combined with large scale human studies, ZOE is decoding the impact of nutrition on health. ZOE leads the PREDICT Studies and the COVID Symptom Study, which are the world's largest community research programmes of their kind in nutrition and COVID-19 respectively.
Located in London and Boston, ZOE was founded by Professor Tim Spector of King's College London, data science leader Jonathan Wolf and entrepreneur George Hadjigeorgiou. ZOE was named one of the Deloitte Fast 50 Rising Stars in 2019 for the company's contribution to science enabled by technology and machine learning.
For more information on ZOE's mission and science, visit joinzoe.com.
About the University of Trento
The University of Trento is a dynamic, research-oriented university, with excellent teaching and research opportunities and top-notch facilities. Today, the University (founded in 1962) is still small-medium in size, but great in quality, capable of playing a high-profile role at European and international level.
Moreover, the University's 11 Departments and 3 Centres cover a wide range of academic subjects and specializations. Most of the courses offered at the UniTrento are taught in English. This broad academic offer is complemented by a proven experience in the organization of double, multiple and joint degrees.
Additionally, national and international rankings place the University of Trento among the best Italian universities.
Furthermore, UniTrento participates in many research networks and has signed prestigious cooperation agreements with important research centres and universities throughout the world. Researchers and young entrepreneurs from all over the world find fertile ground in Trento to create and develop start-ups.
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Study reveals strong links between gut microbes, diet and metabolic health
A large-scale international study uses metagenomics and blood analysis to uncover gut microbes associated with the risks for common illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.
BOSTON - A diet rich in healthy and plant-based foods is linked with the presence and abundance of certain gut microbes that are also associated with a lower risk of developing conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to recent results from a large-scale international study that was co-senior authored by Andrew T. Chan, MD, MPH, from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). The report appears in Nature Medicine.
"This study demonstrates a clear association between specific microbial species in the gut, certain foods, and risk of some common diseases," says Chan, a gastroenterologist, chief of the Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit at MGH, and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "We hope to be able to use this information to help people avoid serious health problems by changing their diet to personalize their gut microbiome."
The PREDICT 1 (Personalized Responses to Dietary Composition Trial 1) metagenomic study analyzed detailed data on the composition of participants' microbiomes, their dietary habits, and cardiometabolic blood biomarkers. The researchers found strong evidence that the microbiome is linked with specific foods and diets, and that, in turn, its composition is also associated with levels of metabolic biomarkers of disease. Further, the microbiome has a greater association with these markers than other factors, such as genetics.
"Studying the interrelationship between the microbiome, diet and disease involves a lot of variables because peoples' diets tend to be personalized and may change quite a bit over time," explains Chan. "Two of the strengths of this trial are the number of participants and the detailed information we collected."
PREDICT 1 is an international collaboration to study links between diet, the microbiome, and biomarkers of cardiometabolic health. The researchers gathered microbiome sequence data, detailed long-term dietary information, and results of hundreds of cardiometabolic blood markers from just over 1,100 participants in the U.K. and the U.S.
The researchers found that participants who ate a diet rich in healthy, plant-based foods were more likely to have high levels of specific gut microbes. The makeup of participants' gut microbiomes was strongly associated with specific nutrients, foods, food groups and general dietary indices (overall diet composition). The researchers also found robust microbiome-based biomarkers of obesity as well as markers for cardiovascular disease and impaired glucose tolerance.
Epidemiologist Tim Spector of King's College London, who started the PREDICT study, says: "When you eat, you're not just nourishing your body, you're feeding the trillions of microbes that live inside your gut."
For example, having a microbiome rich in Prevotella copri and Blastocystis species was associated with maintaining a favorable blood sugar level after a meal. Other species were linked to lower post-meal levels of blood fats and markers of inflammation. The trends they found were so consistent, the researchers believe that their microbiome data can be used to determine the risk of cardiometabolic disease among people who do not yet have symptoms, and possibly to prescribe a personalized diet designed specifically to improve someone's health.
"We were surprised to see such large, clear groups of 'good' and 'bad' microbes emerging from our analysis," says Nicola Segata, PhD, professor and principal investigator of the Computational Metagenomics Lab at the University of Trento, Italy and coordinator of the analysis of the microbiome data in the study. "And it is intriguing to see that microbiologists know so little about many of these microbes that they are not even named yet."
Curtis Huttenhower, PhD, a co-senior author who co-directs the Harvard T.H. Chan Microbiome in Public Health Center, adds: "Both diet and the gut microbiome are highly personalized. PREDICT is one of the first studies to begin unraveling this complex molecular web at scale."
Francesco Asnicar, PhD, and Sarah Berry, PhD, are co-first authors of the study. Other collaborators were from health science company ZOE, which supported the research.
About the Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The Mass General Research Institute conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the nation, with annual research operations of more than $1 billion and comprises more than 9,500 researchers working across more than 30 institutes, centers and departments. In August 2020, Mass General was named #6 in the U.S. News & World Report list of "America's Best Hospitals."
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