Easy Diet Screener: A quick and easy tool for determining dietary patterns associated with lipid profile and body adiposity

Experimental Capacity of Human Fecal Microbiota to Degrade Fiber and Produce Short-Chain Fatty Acids Is Associated with Diet Quality and Anthropometric Parameters

BACKGROUND

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are considered beneficial to human health. The associations between bacterial capacity to produce SCFAs, diet, and health are not fully understood.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to evaluate the capacity of human fecal microbiota to produce SCFAs and to metabolize soluble and insoluble fiber and to study its associations with human diet, anthropometric parameters, and carbohydrate and lipid metabolism.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was carried out with 200 adult participants. Diet was evaluated using food records. Capacity to produce acetate, butyrate, and propionate and to degrade soluble fiber were assessed in an ex vivo experiment where fecal samples were inoculated in a pectin-containing broth. Fecal β-glucosidase activity was measured to assess potential to degrade insoluble fiber.

RESULTS

The main dietary determinants of high capacity to metabolize fiber were high intake of vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. After adjusting analyses for confounders, glucose and lipid parameters were not significantly associated with any of the studied microbial capacities, but the capacity to produce propionic acid was significantly associated with hip circumference (β = -0.018, P = 0.044), which was seen especially in people eating healthy.

CONCLUSIONS

We confirmed that high intake of fiber-rich products is positively associated with the capacity of fecal microbiota to degrade soluble and insoluble dietary fiber and that people eating healthy food might benefit from enhanced microbial capacity to produce propionic acid.

Estimation of the Quality of the Diet of Mexican University Students Using DQI-I

The quality of diet can be measured using diet quality indices, based on knowledge of associations between diet and health. The objective of this work was to evaluate whether the International Diet Quality Index is suitable for use as a diet quality index in populations of Mexican university girls. A cross-sectional nutritional survey was conducted at the University of Chihuahua (Mexico), collecting semi-quantitative nutritional information and socio-economic and lifestyle data from a representative sample of 400 women. Mean (Standard Deviation (SD)) age was 21.43 years (SD: 3.72); 59.1% were normal weight, 26.6% overweight, 15.3% obesity. The Diet Quality Index-International (DQI-I) was developed according to the method of Kim et al. (2003) and focused on major aspects of a high-quality diet (variety, adequacy, moderation and overall balance). The total score of Diet Quality Index-International reached 53.86% (SD: 11.43), indicating that the general diet of Mexican women a poor-quality diet. Adequacy scored highest, followed by moderation and variety. Overall balance scored the lowest. Variety: 26.3 % consumed less than 4 food groups daily, only 12.8% take more than 1 serving from each food group, and 50.6% consumed only one source of protein daily. Regarding adequacy, a large proportion of the population reported an intake of proteins, vitamin C, calcium, iron, and fruit greater than 50% of recommendation; the vegetables, fiber and grain groups were less 50%. Poor scores were obtained for total fat and SFA consumption (moderation). No statistically significant differences are observed for any of the variables under study and score of the Diet Quality Index-International: body mass index, weight, physical activity level, education level of father and mother, location of lunch, breakfast considered important, knowledge of nutrition, which allows us to consider a relatively uniform population in its eating habits. These people are close to a Westernized diet, and an intervention in nutritional education would be advisable to improve the intake of unprocessed foods, consume a greater variety of protein sources and significantly reduce consumption of sugary foods and soft drinks. Due to different methodological and cultural factors, the proposed Diet Quality Index-International dietary assessment method does not seem to be useful in the assessment of diet quality in the Mexican university population, so further research is needed to develop a diet quality index adapted to the Mexican population.

Human gut microbiota composition and its predicted functional properties in people with western and healthy dietary patterns

PURPOSE

Some dietary habits cluster together, and for this reason it is advised to study the impact of entire dietary patterns on human health, rather than that of individual dietary habits. The main objective of this study was to evaluate differences in gut microbiota composition and their predicted functional properties between people with a healthy (HDP) and western (WDP) dietary pattern.

METHODS

A cross-sectional, observational study was carried out on 200 participants enrolled 2017-2018 in Poznań, Poland, equally distributed into HDP and WDP groups. Diet was estimated using 3-day food records and information on stool transit times was collected. Fecal microbiota composition was assessed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and its functional properties were predicted by the PICRUSt2 workflow.

RESULTS

The α-diversity did not differ between people with WDP and HDP, but β-diversity was associated with dietary pattern. People with HDP had higher relative abundances (RA) of Firmicutes and Faecalibacterium and lower RA of Bacteroidota and Escherichia-Shigella than participants with WDP. Only a small proportion of the variance in microbiota composition (1.8%) and its functional properties (2.9%) could be explained by dietary intake (legumes, simple sugars and their sources, like fruit, soft drinks) and stool transit characteristics.

CONCLUSION

Gut microbiota composition and predicted metabolic potential is shaped by overall diet quality as well as the frequency of defecation; however, the cumulative effect of these explain only a relatively low proportion of variance.

Diet, Trimethylamine Metabolism, and Mitochondrial DNA: An Observational Study

SCOPE

Mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn) and its methylation level in the D-loop area have been correlated with metabolic health and are suggested to vary in response to environmental stimuli, including diet. Circulating levels of trimethylamine-n-oxide (TMAO), which is an oxidative derivative of the trimethylamine (TMA) produced by the gut microbiome from dietary precursors, have been associated with chronic diseases and are suggested to have an impact on mitochondrial dynamics. This study is aimed to investigate the relationship between diet, TMA, TMAO, and mtDNAcn, as well as DNA methylation.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Two hundred subjects with extreme (healthy and unhealthy) dietary patterns are recruited. Dietary records are collected to assess their nutrient intake and diets' quality (Healthy Eating Index). Blood levels of TMA and TMAO, circulating levels of TMA precursors and their dietary intakes are measured. MtDNAcn, nuclear DNA methylation long interspersed nuclear element 1 (LINE-1), and strand-specific D-loop methylation levels are assessed. There is no association between dietary patterns and mtDNAcn. The TMAO/TMA ratio is negatively correlated with d-loop methylation levels but positively with mtDNAcn.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest a potential association between TMA metabolism and mitochondrial dynamics (and mtDNA), indicating a new avenue for further research.