Dietary fruit and vegetable intake, gut microbiota, and type 2 diabetes: results from two large human cohort studies

Abstract

Background Little is known about the inter-relationship among fruit and vegetable intake, gut microbiota and metabolites, and type 2 diabetes (T2D) in human prospective cohort study. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prospective association of fruit and vegetable intake with human gut microbiota and to examine the relationship between fruit and vegetable-related gut microbiota and their related metabolites with type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk. Methods This study included 1879 middle-age elderly Chinese adults from Guangzhou Nutrition and Health Study (GNHS). Baseline dietary information was collected using a validated food frequency questionnaire (2008–2013). Fecal samples were collected at follow-up (2015–2019) and analyzed for 16S rRNA sequencing and targeted fecal metabolomics. Blood samples were collected and analyzed for glucose, insulin, and glycated hemoglobin. We used multivariable linear regression and logistic regression models to investigate the prospective associations of fruit and vegetable intake with gut microbiota and the association of the identified gut microbiota (fruit/vegetable-microbiota index) and their related fecal metabolites with T2D risk, respectively. Replications were performed in an independent cohort involving 6626 participants. Results In the GNHS, dietary fruit intake, but not vegetable, was prospectively associated with gut microbiota diversity and composition. The fruit-microbiota index (FMI, created from 31 identified microbial features) was positively associated with fruit intake (p < 0.001) and inversely associated with T2D risk (odds ratio (OR) 0.83, 95%CI 0.71–0.97). The FMI-fruit association (p = 0.003) and the FMI-T2D association (OR 0.90, 95%CI 0.84–0.97) were both successfully replicated in the independent cohort. The FMI-positive associated metabolite sebacic acid was inversely associated with T2D risk (OR 0.67, 95%CI 0.51–0.86). The FMI-negative associated metabolites cholic acid (OR 1.35, 95%CI 1.13–1.62), 3-dehydrocholic acid (OR 1.30, 95%CI 1.09–1.54), oleylcarnitine (OR 1.77, 95%CI 1.45–2.20), linoleylcarnitine (OR 1.66, 95%CI 1.37–2.05), palmitoylcarnitine (OR 1.62, 95%CI 1.33–2.02), and 2-hydroglutaric acid (OR 1.47, 95%CI 1.25–1.72) were positively associated with T2D risk. Conclusions Higher fruit intake-associated gut microbiota and metabolic alteration were associated with a lower risk of T2D, supporting the public dietary recommendation of adopting high fruit intake for the T2D prevention.

Diabetes Mellitus and Associated Factors in Slovakia: Results from the European Health Interview Survey 2009, 2014, and 2019

“…Fruit and vegetable intake is often at the center of health policies tackling DM. In some prospective studies, fruit and vegetable consumption was found to reduce the risk of DM [26,27]. However, in our cross-sectional analyses, their consumption did not show a consistent association with DM occurrence.…”

Dietary fibre intake and risk of prediabetes in China: results from the Tianjin Chronic Low-grade Systemic Inflammation and Health (TCLSIH) Cohort Study

“…Moreover, the dietary fiber content varies considerably among vegetable varieties and species, and thus differences in diets between China and the United States may explain this discrepancy. In addition, our results are supported by the findings from Chinese adults showed that vegetable intake was not associated with T2D (32) . Furthermore, we did not observe a significant association between bean fiber and prediabetes.…”

“…Moreover, a recent study conducted in China found that dietary fruit intake, but not vegetable intake, was prospectively associated with gut microbiota β-diversity and 31 microbial features (belonging to Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Akkermansia muciniphila, Ruminococcaceae, Clostridiales, Acidaminococcus, Prevotella stercorea, Prevotella copri, Fusobacterium, and Enterobacteriaceae) (32) . In that study, the fruit-related gut microbiota index (created from the 31 identified microbial features) was positively associated with fruit intake and inversely associated with T2D risk (32) .…”

Metagenomic analysis reveals the signature of gut microbiota associated with human chronotypes

“…This finding agrees with previous work showing that high fruit intake is positively associated with Ruminococcaceae levels in the microbiome. 20 No additional associations were observed between microbiome composition and food consumption. An increase in the Negativicutes bacterial class was associated with higher BMI.…”