Interrelations between Gut Microbiota Composition, Nutrient Intake and Diabetes Status in an Adult Japanese Population.

Upon food digestion, the gut microbiota plays a pivotal role in energy metabolism, thus affecting the development of type 2 diabetes (DM). We aimed to examine the influence of the composition of selected nutrients consumed on the association between the gut microbiota and DM. This cross-sectional study of a general population was conducted on 1019 Japanese volunteers. Compared with non-diabetic subjects, diabetic subjects had larger proportions of the genera and but smaller proportions of the genera and in their gut microbiotas. The genera and were positively correlated with the amounts of energy ( = 0.027) and carbohydrate and fiber ( = 0.007 and = 0.010, respectively) consumed, respectively. In contrast, the genera and were not correlated with any of the selected nutrients consumed. Cluster analyses of these four genera revealed that the -dominant cluster was most negatively associated with DM, whereas the -dominant cluster was positively associated with DM (vs. the -dominant cluster; odds ratio 3.97, 95% confidence interval 1.68-9.35). These results indicate the possible involvement of nutrient factors in the association between the gut microbiota and DM. Furthermore, independent of nutrient factors, having a -dominant gut microbiota may be a risk factor for DM compared to having a -dominant gut microbiota in a general Japanese population.