A High-Carbohydrate Diet Prolongs Dysbiosis and Clostridioides difficile Carriage and Increases Delayed Mortality in a Hamster Model of Infection
Shrikant S. Bhute, Chrisabelle C. Mefferd, Jacqueline R. Phan, Muneeba Ahmed, Amelia E. Fox-King, Stephanie Alarcia, Jacob V. Villarama, Ernesto Abel‐Santos, Brian P. Hedlund
Abstract
The effects of diet on CDI are not completely known. Here, we used a high-carbohydrate diet previously shown to protect mice against CDI to assess its effect on a hamster model of CDI and paradoxically found that it promoted dysbiosis, C. difficile carriage, and higher mortality. A common thread in both mouse and hamster experimental models was that the high-carbohydrate diet promoted dysbiosis and long-term carriage of C. difficile, which may have converted to fulminant CDI only in the highly susceptible hamster model system. If diets high in carbohydrates also promote dysbiosis and C. difficile carriage in humans, then these diets might paradoxically increase chances of CDI relapse despite their protective effects against primary CDI.