Page 81 - Petelin, Ana, ur. 2024. Zdravje delovno aktivnih in starejših odraslih / Health of Working-Age and Older Adults. Zbornik povzetkov z recenzijo ▪︎ Book of Abstracts. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press

Gut microbiota composition as a marker of long-term dietary patterns

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Karin Šik Novak , Nives Bogataj Jontez , Ana Petelin , Matjaž Hladnik ,
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Alenka Baruca Arbeiter , Dunja Bandelj , Jure Pražnikar , Saša Kenig , Nina Mohorko ,
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Zala Jenko Pražnikar 1
1 University of Primorska, Faculty of Health Sciences, Izola, Slovenia
2 University of Primorska, Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information
Technologies, Koper, Slovenia
Introduction: Understanding the intricate interplay between diet and gut microbiota
composition remains a critical area of research. Despite acknowledging the impact of
diet on gut microbiota, few studies have investigated the relationship between specific
dietary patterns and gut microbiota composition. In this study, we aimed to explore
whether gut microbiota composition at the genus level could serve as a reliable indica-
tor of long-term dietary patterns.
Methods: Our cohort comprised of 89 individuals following omnivorous, vegetarian,
vegan, and low-carbohydrate, high-fat diets, balanced across groups for age, gender,
and BMI. Using a metabarcoding approach targeting the V4 hypervariable region of the
16S rRNA gene, we analyzed gut microbiota composition. Employing K-means cluster-
ing at the genus level and a nearest neighbor classifier, we assessed the predictive po-
tential of microbiota clustering classes.
Results: Our findings suggest that, at the genus level, gut microbiota composition may
not consistently reflect an individual‘s dietary pattern, except notably in the case of a
vegan diet characterized by a significant relative abundance of the genus Prevotella 9.
Our predictive model highlights the significance of a set of 26 variables in predicting an
individual‘s microbiota composition cluster with 91% accuracy from the following cat-
egories: anthropometric measurements, serum biomarkers, lifestyle factors, gastroin-
testinal symptoms, psychological aspects, and specific nutrient intake.
Discussion and conclusions: These results underscore the importance of considering a
multitude of factors in understanding gut microbiota composition. Our findings could
suggest potential strategies for personalized interventions aimed at optimizing health
markers by addressing modifiable lifestyle factors, independent of dietary pattern.
Keywords: gut microbiota, dietary pattern, nutrition, lifestyle factors prehrana in zdravje delovno aktivnih in starejših odraslih | nutrition and health of working-age and older adults

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