Title |
Impact of a 3-Months Vegetarian Diet on the Gut Microbiota and Immune Repertoire
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Published in |
Frontiers in immunology, April 2018
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DOI | 10.3389/fimmu.2018.00908 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Chenchen Zhang, Andrea Björkman, Kaiye Cai, Guilin Liu, Chunlin Wang, Yin Li, Huihua Xia, Lijun Sun, Karsten Kristiansen, Jun Wang, Jian Han, Lennart Hammarström, Qiang Pan-Hammarström |
Abstract |
The dietary pattern can influence the immune system directly, but may also modulate it indirectly by regulating the gut microbiota. Here, we investigated the effect of a 3-months lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet on the diversity of gut microbiota and the immune system in healthy omnivorous volunteers, using high-throughput sequencing technologies. The short-term vegetarian diet did not have any major effect on the diversity of the immune system and the overall composition of the metagenome. The prevalence of bacterial genera/species with known beneficial effects on the intestine, including butyrate-producers and probiotic species and the balance of autoimmune-related variable genes/families were, however, altered in the short-term vegetarians. A number of bacterial species that are associated with the expression level of IgA, a key immunoglobulin class that protects the gastrointestinal mucosal system, were also identified. Furthermore, a lower diversity of T-cell repertoire and expression level of IgE, as well as a reduced abundance of inflammation-related genes in the gut microbiota were potentially associated with a control group with long-term vegetarians. Thus, the composition and duration of the diet may have an impact on the balance of pro-/anti-inflammatory factors in the gut microbiota and immune system. |
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Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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Switzerland | 2 | 6% |
Romania | 2 | 6% |
United Kingdom | 2 | 6% |
Canada | 1 | 3% |
Mexico | 1 | 3% |
Italy | 1 | 3% |
United Arab Emirates | 1 | 3% |
France | 1 | 3% |
Other | 3 | 9% |
Unknown | 16 | 47% |
Demographic breakdown
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Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 8 | 24% |
Scientists | 6 | 18% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 227 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Bachelor | 43 | 19% |
Student > Master | 34 | 15% |
Researcher | 29 | 13% |
Other | 10 | 4% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 10 | 4% |
Other | 33 | 15% |
Unknown | 68 | 30% |
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Nursing and Health Professions | 29 | 13% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 26 | 11% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 20 | 9% |
Immunology and Microbiology | 16 | 7% |
Other | 31 | 14% |
Unknown | 76 | 33% |