Journal
GUT
Volume 70, Issue 9, Pages 1665-1674Publisher
BMJ PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2020-323877
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Funding
- Zoe Global Ltd
- European Research Council (ERC-STG project MetaPG)
- MIUR 'Futuro in Ricerca' [RBFR13EWWI_001]
- European H2020 programme [ONCOBIOME-825410, MASTER-818368]
- National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health [1U01CA230551]
- Premio Internazionale Lombardia e Ricerca 2019
- NIHR Nottingham BRC
- Wellcome Trust
- Medical Research Council
- European Union
- Chronic Disease Research Foundation (CDRF)
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)
- King's College London
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The study found that the taxonomic composition of the gut microbiome can accurately differentiate between gut transit time classes, with longer transit time being associated with specific microbial species. The blue dye method of measuring gut transit time showed a stronger association with the gut microbiome compared to traditional proxies like stool consistency and frequency.
Background and aims Gut transit time is a key modulator of host-microbiome interactions, yet this is often overlooked, partly because reliable methods are typically expensive or burdensome. The aim of this single-arm, single--blinded intervention study is to assess (1) the relationship between gut transit time and the human gut microbiome, and (2) the utility of the 'blue dye' method as an inexpensive and scalable technique to measure transit time. Methods We assessed interactions between the taxonomic and functional potential profiles of the gut microbiome (profiled via shotgun metagenomic sequencing), gut transit time (measured via the blue dye method), cardiometabolic health and diet in 863 healthy individuals from the PREDICT 1 study. Results We found that gut microbiome taxonomic composition can accurately discriminate between gut transit time classes (0.82 area under the receiver operating characteristic curve) and longer gut transit time is linked with specific microbial species such as Akkermansia muciniphila, Bacteroides spp and Alistipes spp (false discovery rate-adjusted p values <0.01). The blue dye measure of gut transit time had the strongest association with the gut microbiome over typical transit time proxies such as stool consistency and frequency. Conclusions Gut transit time, measured via the blue dye method, is a more informative marker of gut microbiome function than traditional measures of stool consistency and frequency. The blue dye method can be applied in large-scale epidemiological studies to advance diet-microbiome-health research.
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