Dietary pattern interfered with the impacts of pesticide exposure by regulating the bioavailability and gut microbiota.

Dietary intake is an essential way for pesticides to enter the human body. The effects of dietary pattern on the risks of pesticides and what diet can reduce the damage are largely unknown. Here, it is found that Mediterranean diet and Vegetarian diet could alleviate insulin resistance and obesity induced by chlorpyrifos, while Western diet could aggravate that. Gut microbiota and chlorpyrifos bioavailability mediated by the diets were involved in these effects. Both the dietary pattern and chlorpyrifos could change the composition of gut microbiota. Chlorpyrifos caused gut dysbacteriosis which was an important reason for the induced metabolic syndrome. Mediterranean diet and Vegetarian diet could maintain gut microbiota homeostasis and increase intestinal bacteria producing short-chain fatty acids, repair the gut microbiota and intestinal barrier damaged by chlorpyrifos. High dietary fat intake increased the bioavailability of chlorpyrifos, which aggravated the gut dysbacteriosis and destruction of intestinal integrity. Thus, the amount of endotoxin entering the blood increased and caused low-grade inflammation, which was also an important pathway of metabolic syndrome. The results suggested that although it was almost impossible to avoid the exposure to pesticides in modern life, healthy diets could regulate beneficial gut microbiota and alleviate the risk of pesticide exposure.