Cardiometabolic benefits of a non-industrialized-type diet are linked to gut microbiome modulation

Fuyong Li; Anissa M Armet; Katri Korpela; Junhong Liu; Rodrigo Margain Quevedo; Francesco Asnicar; Benjamin Seethaler; Tianna B S Rusnak; Janis L Cole; Zhihong Zhang; Shuang Zhao; Xiaohang Wang; Adele Gagnon; Edward C Deehan; João F Mota; Jeffrey A Bakal; Russell Greiner; Dan Knights; Nicola Segata; Stephan C Bischoff; Laurie Mereu; Andrea M Haqq; Catherine J Field; Liang Li; Carla M Prado; Jens Walter

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2024.12.034

Cardiometabolic benefits of a non-industrialized-type diet are linked to gut microbiome modulation

Cell. 2025 Mar 6;188(5):1226-1247.e18. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.12.034. Epub 2025 Jan 23.

Authors

Fuyong Li¹, Anissa M Armet², Katri Korpela³, Junhong Liu², Rodrigo Margain Quevedo², Francesco Asnicar⁴, Benjamin Seethaler⁵, Tianna B S Rusnak², Janis L Cole², Zhihong Zhang⁶, Shuang Zhao⁷, Xiaohang Wang⁷, Adele Gagnon², Edward C Deehan⁸, João F Mota⁹, Jeffrey A Bakal¹⁰, Russell Greiner¹¹, Dan Knights¹², Nicola Segata⁴, Stephan C Bischoff⁵, Laurie Mereu¹³, Andrea M Haqq¹⁴, Catherine J Field², Liang Li¹⁵, Carla M Prado², Jens Walter¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Agricultural, Food & Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada; Department of Animal Science and Technology, College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, Zhejiang, China.
² Department of Agricultural, Food & Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada.
³ Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Uusimaa, Finland.
⁴ Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology, University of Trento, Trento 38123, Trentino, Italy.
⁵ Institute of Nutritional Medicine, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart 70599, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
⁶ Department of Agricultural, Food & Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada; State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Resources, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330047, Jiangxi, China.
⁷ The Metabolomics Innovation Centre, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada.
⁸ Department of Agricultural, Food & Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada; Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.
⁹ APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork T12 YT20, Munster, Ireland; Faculty of Nutrition, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia, Goiás 74605-080, Brazil.
¹⁰ Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7, Canada.
¹¹ Department of Computing Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada; Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, Edmonton, AB T5J 3B1, Canada.
¹² Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA; Biotechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USA.
¹³ Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7, Canada.
¹⁴ Department of Agricultural, Food & Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7, Canada.
¹⁵ The Metabolomics Innovation Centre, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada; Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G2, Canada.
¹⁶ Department of Agricultural, Food & Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada; APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Cork T12 YT20, Munster, Ireland; School of Microbiology, University College Cork, Cork T12 YT20, Munster, Ireland; Department of Medicine, University College Cork, Cork T12 YT20, Munster, Ireland; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada. Electronic address: jenswalter@ucc.ie.

PMID: 39855197
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.12.034

Abstract

Industrialization adversely affects the gut microbiome and predisposes individuals to chronic non-communicable diseases. We tested a microbiome restoration strategy comprising a diet that recapitulated key characteristics of non-industrialized dietary patterns (restore diet) and a bacterium rarely found in industrialized microbiomes (Limosilactobacillus reuteri) in a randomized controlled feeding trial in healthy Canadian adults. The restore diet, despite reducing gut microbiome diversity, enhanced the persistence of L. reuteri strain from rural Papua New Guinea (PB-W1) and redressed several microbiome features altered by industrialization. The diet also beneficially altered microbiota-derived plasma metabolites implicated in the etiology of chronic non-communicable diseases. Considerable cardiometabolic benefits were observed independently of L. reuteri administration, several of which could be accurately predicted by baseline and diet-responsive microbiome features. The findings suggest that a dietary intervention targeted toward restoring the gut microbiome can improve host-microbiome interactions that likely underpin chronic pathologies, which can guide dietary recommendations and the development of therapeutic and nutritional strategies.

Keywords: Limosilactobacillus reuteri; cardiometabolic health; chronic disease; diet; dietary intervention; fiber; gut microbiome; microbiome restoration; non-industrialized diet; nutrition.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

Adult
Canada
Cardiovascular Diseases / microbiology
Cardiovascular Diseases / prevention & control
Diet*
Female
Gastrointestinal Microbiome*
Humans
Limosilactobacillus reuteri / physiology
Male
Middle Aged
Young Adult