Rezazadegan Mahsa, Forootani Bita, Hoveyda Yeganeh, Rezazadegan Niloufar, Amani Reza
Student Research Committee, Department of Clinical Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Science, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Nutrition and Food Security Research Center, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
J Health Popul Nutr. 2025 Jan 27;44(1):21. doi: 10.1186/s41043-025-00750-4.
The human gut microbiota has a critical role in several aspects of host homeostasis, such as immune development, metabolism, nutrition, and defense against pathogens during life. It can be sensitive to xenobiotics including drugs, diet, or even environmental pollutants, especially heavy metals (HMs). The findings of some previous studies are heterogeneous due to the inclusion of various types of study (human, and animal studies) and wide exposures (phthalate, bisphenol A, HMS, etc.), and no comprehensive systematic review has investigated the association between HMs exposure and human gut microbiota composition. Therefore, we carried out a systematic review of human observational studies to examine this association. PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched using Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and non-MeSH terms. Eventually, 12 studies for arsenic (As), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), and cadmium (Cd) were included in this study. No eligible study was found for Aluminium.
The findings showed exposure to HMs disturbs the composition of gut microbiota and can lead to dysbiosis. Exposure to high levels of As, Pb, and Hg increased the abundance of Collinsella as pathobionts. Evidently, it is related to leaky gut, oxidative stress, and several diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and cancers. Probiotic treatment and nutritional strategies such as high fiber intake and following antioxidant-rich diets should be considered in terms of HMs exposure.
人类肠道微生物群在宿主内环境稳态的多个方面发挥着关键作用，例如生命过程中的免疫发育、新陈代谢、营养以及抵御病原体。它可能对包括药物、饮食甚至环境污染物（尤其是重金属）在内的外源性物质敏感。由于先前一些研究纳入了各种类型的研究（人类和动物研究）以及广泛的暴露因素（邻苯二甲酸盐、双酚A、重金属等），其研究结果存在异质性，且尚无全面的系统评价来研究重金属暴露与人类肠道微生物群组成之间的关联。因此，我们对人类观察性研究进行了系统评价，以检验这种关联。使用医学主题词（MeSH）和非MeSH术语检索了PubMed、Scopus、ISI科学网和谷歌学术。最终，本研究纳入了12项关于砷（As）、铅（Pb）、汞（Hg）和镉（Cd）的研究。未发现关于铝的符合条件的研究。
研究结果表明，暴露于重金属会扰乱肠道微生物群的组成并可能导致生态失调。暴露于高水平的砷、铅和汞会增加作为致病共生菌的柯林斯菌属的丰度。显然，这与肠道通透性增加、氧化应激以及几种疾病如炎症性肠病和癌症有关。就重金属暴露而言，应考虑益生菌治疗和营养策略，如高纤维摄入和遵循富含抗氧化剂的饮食。
