Consumption of Fermented Foods Is Associated with Systematic Differences in the Gut Microbiome and Metabolome
Bryn C. Taylor, Franck Lejzerowicz, Marion Poirel, Justin P. Shaffer, Lingjing Jiang, Alexander A. Aksenov, Nicole S. Litwin, Gregory Humphrey, Cameron Martino, Sandrine Miller‐Montgomery, Pieter C. Dorrestein, Patrick Veiga, Se Jin Song, Daniel McDonald, Muriel Derrien, Rob Knight
Abstract
Public interest in the effects of fermented food on the human gut microbiome is high, but limited studies have explored the association between fermented food consumption and the gut microbiome in large cohorts. Here, we used a combination of omics-based analyses to study the relationship between the microbiome and fermented food consumption in thousands of people using both cross-sectional and longitudinal data. We found that fermented food consumers have subtle differences in their gut microbiota structure, which is enriched in conjugated linoleic acid, thought to be beneficial. The results suggest that further studies of specific kinds of fermented food and their impacts on the microbiome and health will be useful.