Plant-Based Diet Index and Metabolic Risk in Men: Exploring the Role of the Gut Microbiome

Yanping Li; Dong D Wang; Ambika Satija; Kerry L Ivey; Jun Li; Jeremy E Wilkinson; Ruifeng Li; Megu Baden; Andrew T Chan; Curtis Huttenhower; Eric B Rimm; Frank B Hu; Qi Sun

doi:10.1093/jn/nxab175

Plant-Based Diet Index and Metabolic Risk in Men: Exploring the Role of the Gut Microbiome

J Nutr. 2021 Sep 4;151(9):2780-2789. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxab175.

Authors

Yanping Li¹, Dong D Wang¹, Ambika Satija¹, Kerry L Ivey^{1

2

3}, Jun Li¹, Jeremy E Wilkinson⁴, Ruifeng Li¹, Megu Baden¹, Andrew T Chan⁵, Curtis Huttenhower^{4

6}, Eric B Rimm^{1

7

8}, Frank B Hu^{1

7

8}, Qi Sun^{1

7

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
² Microbiome and Host Health Programme, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, North Terrace, Adelaide, Australia.
³ Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁵ Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁷ Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁸ Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁹ Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, MA, USA.

Abstract

Background: Healthy plant-based diet index (hPDI) is associated with a lower risk of cardiometabolic conditions, but its association as well as interactions with microbiome have not been elucidated.

Objectives: We aimed to investigate the interrelations between hPDI, gut microbiome, and cardiometabolic risk markers.

Methods: hPDI was derived from dietary assessments by a validated FFQ and was examined in relation to metagenomic profiles of 911 fecal samples collected from 303 men aged 71 ± 4 y with an average BMI (in kg/m2) of 25.2 ± 3.6 in the Men's Lifestyle Validation Study. Principal coordinate (PCo) analysis based on Bray-Curtis dissimilarity was conducted, and interactions between hPDI and PCo were examined by using a metabolic risk score composed of blood lipids, BMI, and glycated hemoglobin.

Results: After multivariable adjustment, hPDI was significantly associated with the relative abundance of 7 species and 9 pathways. In particular, higher hPDI was significantly associated with a higher relative abundance of Bacteroides cellulosilyticus and Eubacterium eligens, amino acid biosynthesis pathways (l-isoleucine biosynthesis I and III and l-valine biosynthesis), and the pathway of pyruvate fermentation to isobutanol. A favorable association between hPDI and the metabolic risk score was more pronounced among men with a higher PCo characterized by higher abundance of Bacteroides uniformis and lower abundance of Prevotella copri. At the individual species level, a similar interaction was also observed between hPDI and P. copri, as well as with Clostridium clostridioforme or Blautia hydrogenotrophica (all P-interaction < 0.01).

Conclusion: A greater adherence to a healthy plant-based diet by older men was associated with a microbial profile characterized by a higher abundance of multiple species, including B. cellulosilyticus and E. eligens, as well as pathways in amino acid metabolism and pyruvate fermentation. In addition, inverse associations between healthy plant-based diet and human metabolic risk may partially depend on microbial compositions.

Keywords: diet; metabolic; microbiome; plant-based diet index; species.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Aged
Diet
Diet, Healthy
Diet, Vegetarian
Feces
Gastrointestinal Microbiome*
Humans
Male

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding