Wada Keiko, Suda Wataru, Ueno Tomomi, Masuoka Hiroaki, Yamakawa Michiyo, Nakashima Yuma, Sugino Masaaki, Mori Tomoka, Uchiyama Shigeto, Sumoto Yoshio, Kiguchi Yuya, Hattori Masahira, Nagata Chisato
Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu City, Gifu, 501-1194, Japan.
Laboratory for Microbiome Sciences, RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Yokohama, Japan.
Eur J Nutr. 2025 May 9;64(4):174. doi: 10.1007/s00394-025-03625-w.
Little is known about the relationship between the human gut microbiota composition and equol-producing ability. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between equol production and the gut microbiota in school-age children, with consideration of sex, age, and exposure to soy isoflavones.
Participants were 1110 students aged 7-8, 10-11 and 13-14 years. The cumulative participation rate was 85.2%. Equol production, defined as a log-transformed equol/daidzein ratio of -1.75 or greater, was determined in urine collected after two days of soymilk supplementation. Urinary daidzein, genistein, and equol were measured by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The microbiota in 223 fecal samples was determined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis.
The observed operational taxonomic unit number, Chao 1, and Shannon index were significantly higher in equol producers than in non-producers after adjustments for survey time, sex, and age. Principal coordinate analysis plots based on weighted and unweighted UniFrac distances showed significant differences in the gut microbiota between equol producers and non-producers. Among the species with an average abundance of ≥0.1%, several species were more abundant in equol producers than in non-producers, with significant positive correlations between relative abundances and equol/daidzein ratios. Of species previously reported as equol-producing, Asaccharobacter celatus and Slackia isoflavoniconvertens were significantly associated with equol production.
Equol production was strongly associated with the diversity of the gut microbiota. The richness of a diverse microbiota and the interrelationships among microbes may be involved in equol production.
关于人类肠道微生物群组成与雌马酚生成能力之间的关系，目前所知甚少。本研究的目的是评估学龄儿童中雌马酚生成与肠道微生物群之间的关系，并考虑性别、年龄和大豆异黄酮暴露情况。
参与者为1110名7 - 8岁、10 - 11岁和13 - 14岁的学生。累计参与率为85.2%。雌马酚生成定义为经对数转换的雌马酚/黄豆苷元比值为 - 1.75或更高，在补充豆浆两天后收集的尿液中测定。通过液相色谱 - 质谱法测量尿中黄豆苷元、染料木黄酮和雌马酚。通过16S rRNA基因测序分析确定223份粪便样本中的微生物群。
在对调查时间、性别和年龄进行调整后，雌马酚生产者的观察到的操作分类单元数量、Chao 1指数和香农指数显著高于非生产者。基于加权和非加权UniFrac距离的主坐标分析图显示，雌马酚生产者和非生产者的肠道微生物群存在显著差异。在平均丰度≥0.1%的物种中，几种物种在雌马酚生产者中比在非生产者中更为丰富，相对丰度与雌马酚/黄豆苷元比值之间存在显著正相关。在先前报道为产生雌马酚的物种中，塞氏无糖杆菌和异黄酮转化斯拉氏菌与雌马酚生成显著相关。
雌马酚生成与肠道微生物群的多样性密切相关。多样化微生物群的丰富度以及微生物之间的相互关系可能参与了雌马酚的生成。
