Gu Tingting, Zerry Yvette, Zhang Boce, Tan Juzhong, Taft Diana H
Food Science and Human Nutrition Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA.
J Food Sci. 2025 Sep;90(9):e70430. doi: 10.1111/1750-3841.70430.
Meat analogs are emerging as a sustainable alternative to meat products, and novel meat analog products could potentially offer additional health benefits. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a serious threat to global human health. Dietary choices affect the composition of bacteria in the human gut microbiome and can influence the carriage of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs). Individuals with lower ARG carriage tend to consume more fiber, suggesting that novel fiber-rich meat analogs may help tackle the growing AMR crisis. We therefore hypothesized that adding resistant starch to meat analogs would reduce the number and abundance of ARGs in human gut microbial communities and tested this using in vitro fecal fermentation. Fecal samples were collected from three human donors. Meat analogs formulated from raw ingredients (pea, soy, and resistant starch)-including 100% pea, 90% pea and 10% resistant starch, 100% soy, and 90% soy and 10% resistant starch-served as the carbohydrate source for fecal fermentations. Whole metagenomic sequencing was performed on DNA from the fermentations. ANOVA showed significant differences in normalized ARG abundance by carbohydrate source (p = 0.021), though not in total ARG counts. Meat analogs with resistant starch resulted in a lower median normalized abundance of drug-resistant ARGs than meat analogs without resistant starch, but post-hoc testing could not determine which groups differed from each other due to limited sample size. Adding resistant starch to meat analogs is associated with reduced ARGs in human gut microbial communities, but more research is needed. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Lowering the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) is an important public health goal, and emerging work suggests that diet may contribute to controlling the spread of ARGs. One association with diet and the resistome is a lower carriage of ARGs in individuals who consume more dietary fiber. This research therefore sought to pilot if adding resistant starch to meat analogs has the potential to reduce resistance gene carriage. The results found that adding resistant starch to plant-based meat products may help lower the abundance of antimicrobial resistance genes in the human gut microbiome. This provides the justification for larger scale studies and suggests that food manufacturers may be able to develop foods, including healthier meat alternatives, to assist in preserving the function of antibiotics for future generations.
肉类替代品正成为肉类产品的一种可持续替代选择，新型肉类替代品可能还有额外的健康益处。抗菌素耐药性（AMR）对全球人类健康构成严重威胁。饮食选择会影响人类肠道微生物群中细菌的组成，并且可能影响抗菌素耐药基因（ARGs）的携带情况。携带ARGs较少的个体往往摄入更多纤维，这表明新型富含纤维的肉类替代品可能有助于应对日益严重的AMR危机。因此，我们假设在肉类替代品中添加抗性淀粉会减少人类肠道微生物群落中ARGs的数量和丰度，并使用体外粪便发酵对此进行了测试。从三名人类捐赠者处采集了粪便样本。由原料（豌豆、大豆和抗性淀粉）制成的肉类替代品——包括100%豌豆、90%豌豆和10%抗性淀粉、100%大豆、90%大豆和10%抗性淀粉——用作粪便发酵的碳水化合物来源。对发酵后的DNA进行了全宏基因组测序。方差分析显示，碳水化合物来源导致标准化ARG丰度存在显著差异（p = 0.021），但ARG总数无差异。含有抗性淀粉的肉类替代品导致耐药ARGs的标准化丰度中位数低于不含抗性淀粉的肉类替代品，但由于样本量有限，事后检验无法确定哪些组之间存在差异。在肉类替代品中添加抗性淀粉与人类肠道微生物群落中ARGs的减少有关，但还需要更多研究。实际应用：降低抗菌素耐药基因（ARGs）的流行率是一项重要的公共卫生目标，新的研究表明饮食可能有助于控制ARGs的传播。饮食与耐药基因组的一个关联是，摄入更多膳食纤维的个体携带ARGs的情况较少。因此，本研究旨在初步探索在肉类替代品中添加抗性淀粉是否有可能降低抗性基因的携带情况。结果发现，在植物性肉类产品中添加抗性淀粉可能有助于降低人类肠道微生物群中抗菌素耐药基因的丰度。这为开展更大规模的研究提供了依据，并表明食品制造商或许能够开发出包括更健康肉类替代品在内的食品，以帮助为子孙后代保留抗生素的功能。
