Department of Epidemiology and Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, 2055 Mowry Road, Gainesville, FL 32610-0009, USA.
US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, Beltsville, MD, USA.
Br J Nutr. 2014 Jun 28;111(12):2146-52. doi: 10.1017/S0007114514000385. Epub 2014 Mar 18.
The modification of microbiota composition to a 'beneficial' one is a promising approach for improving intestinal as well as overall health. Natural fibres and phytochemicals that reach the proximal colon, such as those present in various nuts, provide substrates for the maintenance of healthy and diverse microbiota. The effects of increased consumption of specific nuts, which are rich in fibre as well as various phytonutrients, on human gut microbiota composition have not been investigated to date. The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of almond and pistachio consumption on human gut microbiota composition. We characterised microbiota in faecal samples collected from volunteers in two separate randomised, controlled, cross-over feeding studies (n 18 for the almond feeding study and n 16 for the pistachio feeding study) with 0, 1·5 or 3 servings/d of the respective nuts for 18 d. Gut microbiota composition was analysed using a 16S rRNA-based approach for bacteria and an internal transcribed spacer region sequencing approach for fungi. The 16S rRNA sequence analysis of 528 028 sequence reads, retained after removing low-quality and short-length reads, revealed various operational taxonomic units that appeared to be affected by nut consumption. The effect of pistachio consumption on gut microbiota composition was much stronger than that of almond consumption and included an increase in the number of potentially beneficial butyrate-producing bacteria. Although the numbers of bifidobacteria were not affected by the consumption of either nut, pistachio consumption appeared to decrease the number of lactic acid bacteria (P< 0·05). Increasing the consumption of almonds or pistachios appears to be an effective means of modifying gut microbiota composition.
将微生物群落组成修改为“有益”的组成是改善肠道和整体健康的一种有前途的方法。到达近端结肠的天然纤维和植物化学物质，如各种坚果中存在的纤维和各种植物营养素，为维持健康和多样化的微生物群落提供了基质。迄今为止，尚未研究增加特定坚果（富含纤维和各种植物营养素）的摄入量对人类肠道微生物群落组成的影响。本研究的目的是确定杏仁和开心果的消费对人类肠道微生物群落组成的影响。我们在两项独立的随机、对照、交叉喂养研究（杏仁喂养研究 n 18，开心果喂养研究 n 16）中对志愿者粪便样本中的微生物群进行了特征分析，在 18 天内每天分别摄入 0、1·5 或 3 份坚果。使用基于 16S rRNA 的细菌方法和内部转录间隔区测序方法分析真菌的微生物群组成。在去除低质量和短长度的读取后，保留了 528028 个序列读取的 16S rRNA 序列分析，揭示了各种似乎受到坚果消费影响的操作分类单位。开心果消费对肠道微生物群落组成的影响远强于杏仁消费，包括增加潜在有益的丁酸产生菌的数量。尽管双歧杆菌的数量不受任何一种坚果消费的影响，但开心果消费似乎减少了乳酸菌的数量（P<0·05）。增加杏仁或开心果的摄入量似乎是一种有效的改变肠道微生物群落组成的方法。
