Associations of plant-based foods, red and processed meat, and dairy with gut microbiome in Finnish adults

Mirkka Maukonen; Kari K Koponen; Aki S Havulinna; Niina E Kaartinen; Teemu Niiranen; Guillaume Méric; Anne-Maria Pajari; Rob Knight; Veikko Salomaa; Satu Männistö

doi:10.1007/s00394-024-03406-x

Associations of plant-based foods, red and processed meat, and dairy with gut microbiome in Finnish adults

Eur J Nutr. 2024 May 16. doi: 10.1007/s00394-024-03406-x. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Mirkka Maukonen¹, Kari K Koponen², Aki S Havulinna^{2

3}, Niina E Kaartinen², Teemu Niiranen², Guillaume Méric^{4

5

6

7}, Anne-Maria Pajari⁸, Rob Knight⁹, Veikko Salomaa², Satu Männistö²

Affiliations

¹ Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Helsinki, Finland. mirkka.maukonen@thl.fi.
² Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Helsinki, Finland.
³ Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, FIMM-HiLIFE, Helsinki, Finland.
⁴ Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
⁵ University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
⁶ Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
⁷ La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
⁸ University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
⁹ University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.

PMID: 38753173
DOI: 10.1007/s00394-024-03406-x

Abstract

Purpose: Population-based studies on the associations of plant-based foods, red meat or dairy with gut microbiome are scarce. We examined whether the consumption of plant-based foods (vegetables, potatoes, fruits, cereals), red and processed meat (RPM) or dairy (fermented milk, cheese, other dairy products) are related to gut microbiome in Finnish adults.

Methods: We utilized data from the National FINRISK/FINDIET 2002 Study (n = 1273, aged 25-64 years, 55% women). Diet was assessed with 48-hour dietary recalls. Gut microbiome was analyzed using shallow shotgun sequencing. We applied multivariate analyses with linear models and permutational ANOVAs adjusted for relevant confounders.

Results: Fruit consumption was positively (beta = 0.03, SE = 0.01, P = 0.04), while a dairy subgroup including milk, cream and ice-creams was inversely associated (beta=-0.03, SE 0.01, P = 0.02) with intra-individual gut microbiome diversity (alpha-diversity). Plant-based foods (R² = 0.001, P = 0.03) and dairy (R² = 0.002, P = 0.01) but not RPM (R² = 0.001, P = 0.38) contributed to the compositional differences in gut microbiome (beta-diversity). Plant-based foods were associated with several butyrate producers/cellulolytic species including Roseburia hominis. RPM associations included an inverse association with R. hominis. Dairy was positively associated with several lactic producing/probiotic species including Lactobacillus delbrueckii and potentially opportunistic pathogens including Citrobacter freundii. Dairy, fermented milk, vegetables, and cereals were associated with specific microbial functions.

Conclusion: Our results suggest a potential association between plant-based foods and dairy or their subgroups with microbial diversity measures. Furthermore, our findings indicated that all the food groups were associated with distinct overall microbial community compositions. Plant-based food consumption particularly was associated with a larger number of putative beneficial species.

Keywords: Dairy; Diet; Gut microbiome; Meat; Plant-based foods; Sustainability.