Your dietary pattern can influence the makeup of your gut microbiome, new evidence has claimed.
Researchers have found that vegans, vegetarians and omnivores tend to have a different gut microbiome.
During the study, the team of academics looked at the gut microbiomes and dietary patterns of 21,561 adults.
The gut microbiome are the microorganisms that live in the digestive tracts of humans, including bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses.
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Food intake influences the gut microbiome because it determines the microbes necessary for digestion and the acquisition of microbes directly from the food itself, the study has reported.
Senior author Gloria Fackelmann said: “As more and more people adopt vegan and vegetarian diets, we wanted to find out how different their microbiomes are, and which microorganisms are responsible for these differences.”
According to the research, vegans have the healthiest diets, followed by vegetarians and omnivores.
However, the findings have revealed that the gut microbiomes of vegetarians and vegans are less diverse than an omnivore’s gut microbiome.
The microbiomes of meat eaters have an increased presence of Alistipes putredinis – bacteria associated with meat digestion involved in protein fermentation.
In addition, meat eaters have more Ruminococcus torques and Bilophila wadsworthia – bacteria associated with inflammatory bowel disease and an increased risk of colon cancer.
Meanwhile, the microbiomes of vegans have bacteria involved in fiber fermentation which help produce short-chain fatty acids.
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Gut health is improved by these compounds because they reduce inflammation and maintain a better homeostatic balance with a person’s metabolism and immune system.
Fellow author Professor Nicola Segata said: “We have observed that the quantity and diversity of plant-based foods have a very positive impact on the microbiome.
“Avoiding meat or dairy products does not necessarily have a positive effect if it does not come with a variety of quality plant-based products.”
She added: “From the point of view of the microbiome, what we can generally recommend is that it is important to eat many plant-based foods, especially those rich in fibre. And that food diversity is important.”
Read the full study in the journal Nature Microbiology.
