Human Gut Microbiota Profiles Related to Mediterranean and West African Diets and Association with <i>Blastocystis</i> SubtypesOriginal paper
Karen Pendergrass is a microbiome researcher specializing in microbiome-targeted interventions (MBTIs). She systematically analyzes scientific literature to identify microbial patterns, develop hypotheses, and validate interventions. As the founder of the Microbiome Signatures Database, she bridges microbiome research with clinical practice. In 2012, based on her own investigative research, she became the first documented case of FMT for Celiac Disease, four years before the first published case study.
Read MoreWhat was studied?
This study examined how geographical origin, diet, and Blastocystis presence and subtypes relate to gut microbiota composition. Researchers sequenced the V3-V4 hypervariable regions of the 16S rDNA gene to profile bacterial taxa across groups following West African and Mediterranean dietary patterns. They used DESeq2 to link taxa abundance to specific foods and weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) to identify co-abundant bacterial genera. Blastocystis subtypes were also determined and correlated with the microbial composition found in each group.
Who was studied?
Three cohorts of healthy subjects were compared: Italians residing in Rome, Africans residing in Cote d'Ivoire, and Africans living in Italy. This design allowed the researchers to separate the effects of geographic origin and long-term residence from current dietary intake. The abstract does not give exact participant counts for each cohort.
What were the most important findings?
Distinct microbial taxa were associated with specific foods, including palm oil, Cube Maggi, sunflower oil, and olive oil, linking diet composition directly to gut bacterial profiles. Notably, following a Mediterranean diet for over two years did not change the abundance of Faecalibacterium and Dorea among Africans living in Italy. This suggests that some microbiota features tied to geographic origin can persist despite a sustained shift in diet. Blastocystis subtypes were also found to correlate with microbial composition across the three groups, tying eukaryotic gut residents to bacterial community structure.
What are the greatest implications of this study?
The findings suggest that gut microbiota profiles reflect a combination of long-standing geographic and cultural dietary patterns, not just current food intake, since some taxa resisted change even after years on a new diet. This has implications for how researchers interpret microbiome studies in migrant or multi-ethnic populations, where origin-linked microbial signatures may persist. The study also reinforces the importance of considering eukaryotic components like Blastocystis alongside bacterial taxa when characterizing gut ecosystems. Together, this points to a need for more nuanced, origin-aware approaches when studying diet-microbiome relationships.