Multi-omics analyses reveal relationships among dairy consumption, gut microbiota and cardiometabolic health

Background: Little is known about the interplay among dairy intake, gut microbiota and cardiometabolic health in human prospective cohort studies. Methods: The present study included 1780 participants from the Guangzhou Nutrition and Health Study. We examined the prospective association between habitual dairy consumption (total dairy, milk, yogurt) and gut microbial composition using linear regression after adjusting for socio-demographic, lifestyle and dietary factors. The cross-sectional association of dairy-associated microbial features with cardiometabolic risk factors was examined with a linear regression model, adjusting for potential confounders. Serum metabolomic profiles were analyzed by partial correlation analysis. Findings: There was a significant overall difference in gut microbial community structure (beta-diversity) comparing the highest with the lowest category for each of total dairy, milk and yogurt (P < 0.05). We observed that dairy-associated microbes and alpha-diversity indices were inversely associated with blood triglycerides, while positively associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. A follow-up metabolomics analysis revealed the association of targeted serum metabolites with dairy-microbial features and cardiometabolic traits. Specifically, 2-hydroxy-3-methylbutyric acid, 2-hydroxybutyric acid and L-alanine were inversely associated with dairy-microbial score, while positively associated with triglycerides (FDR-corrected P < 0.1). Interpretation: Dairy consumption is associated with the gut microbial composition and a higher alpha-diversity, which provides new insights into the understanding of dairy-gut microbiota interactions and their relationship with cardiometabolic health. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.

Automated summary

The study found that dairy consumption was associated with gut microbial composition and higher alpha-diversity. It also showed inverse associations between dairy-associated microbes and some cardiometabolic risk factors, providing new insights into the relationship between dairy-gut microbiota interactions and cardiometabolic health.