Gut microbiome signatures of vegan, vegetarian and omnivore diets and associated health outcomes across 21,561 individuals

From BugSigDB
Needs review
study design
Citation
PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.
DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.
URI
Authors
Fackelmann G, Manghi P, Carlino N, Heidrich V, Piccinno G, Ricci L, Piperni E, Arrè A, Bakker E, Creedon AC, Francis L, Capdevila Pujol J, Davies R, Wolf J, Bermingham KM, Berry SE, Spector TD, Asnicar F, Segata N
Journal
Nature microbiology
Year
2025
As plant-based diets gain traction, interest in their impacts on the gut microbiome is growing. However, little is known about diet-pattern-specific metagenomic profiles across populations. Here we considered 21,561 individuals spanning 5 independent, multinational, human cohorts to map how differences in diet pattern (omnivore, vegetarian and vegan) are reflected in gut microbiomes. Microbial profiles distinguished these common diet patterns well (mean AUC = 0.85). Red meat was a strong driver of omnivore microbiomes, with corresponding signature microbes (for example, Ruminococcus torques, Bilophila wadsworthia and Alistipes putredinis) negatively correlated with host cardiometabolic health. Conversely, vegan signature microbes were correlated with favourable cardiometabolic markers and were enriched in omnivores consuming more plant-based foods. Diet-specific gut microbes partially overlapped with food microbiomes, especially with dairy microbes, for example, Streptococcus thermophilus, and typical soil microbes in vegans. The signatures of common western diet patterns can support future nutritional interventions and epidemiology.

Experiment 1


Needs review

Curated date: 2025/03/11

Curator: Tosin

Revision editor(s): Tosin

Subjects

Location of subjects
Italy
United Kingdom
United States of America
Host species Species from which microbiome was sampled. Contact us to have more species added.
Homo sapiens
Body site Anatomical site where microbial samples were extracted from according to the Uber Anatomy Ontology
Feces Cow dung,Cow pat,Droppings,Dung,Excrement,Excreta,Faeces,Fecal material,Fecal matter,Fewmet,Frass,Guano,Matières fécales@fr,Merde@fr,Ordure,Partie de la merde@fr,Piece of shit,Porción de mierda@es,Portion of dung,Portion of excrement,Portion of faeces,Portion of fecal material,Portion of fecal matter,Portion of feces,Portion of guano,Portion of scat,Portionem cacas,Scat,Spoor,Spraint,Stool,Teil der fäkalien@de,Feces,feces
Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology
Diet Dietary,Diets,Diet,diet
Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies
Omnivore
Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies
Vegetarian
Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group
Participants whose diet pattern excludes meat
Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group
19817
Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group
1088

Lab analysis

Sequencing type
WMS
16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene
Not specified
Sequencing platform Manufacturer and experimental platform used for quantifying microbial abundance
Illumina

Statistical Analysis

Data transformation Data transformation applied to microbial abundance measurements prior to differential abundance testing (if any).
relative abundances
Statistical test
Wald Test
Significance threshold p-value or FDR threshold used for differential abundance testing (if any)
0.1
MHT correction Have statistical tests be corrected for multiple hypothesis testing (MHT)?
Yes


Signature 1

Needs review

Curated date: 2025/03/11

Curator: Tosin

Revision editor(s): Tosin

Source: Figure 3b

Description: Meta-analysed correlations between SGB relative abundance and diet pattern (omnivore n = 19,817 in pink vs vegetarian n = 1,088 in purple).

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in Vegetarian

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Dialister hominis
Lachnospira
Thomasclavelia saccharogumia
Bifidobacterium longum
Lachnospiraceae bacterium

Revision editor(s): Tosin

Signature 2

Needs review

Curated date: 2025/03/12

Curator: Tosin

Revision editor(s): Tosin

Source: Figure 3b

Description: Meta-analysed correlations between SGB relative abundance and diet pattern (omnivore n = 19,817 in pink vs vegetarian n = 1,088 in purple).

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in Vegetarian

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Alistipes putredinis
Anaeromassilibacillus sp. An250
Bilophila wadsworthia
Butyricimonas paravirosa
Clostridia
Clostridia bacterium
Clostridiaceae bacterium
Coprococcus comes
Desulfovibrionaceae
Erysipelotrichaceae
Lachnoclostridium sp. An138
Merdimmobilis hominis
Negativibacillus massiliensis
Odoribacter splanchnicus
Oscillospiraceae
Oscillospiraceae bacterium
[Ruminococcus] torques
unclassified Clostridia
Candidatus Avimicrobium caecorum
Candidatus Pararuminococcus gallinarum

Revision editor(s): Tosin

Experiment 2


Needs review

Curated date: 2025/03/11

Curator: Tosin

Revision editor(s): Tosin

Differences from previous experiment shown

Subjects

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies
Omnivores
Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies
Vegan
Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group
Participants whose diet patterns excludes both meat, dairy and other animal products
Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group
656

Lab analysis

Statistical Analysis

Signature 1

Needs review

Curated date: 2025/03/12

Curator: Tosin

Revision editor(s): Tosin

Source: Figure 3h

Description: Meta-analysed correlations between SGB relative abundance and diet pattern between omnivores (n = 19,817 in pink) and vegans (n = 656 in green)

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in Vegan

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Bacilli bacterium
Bacillota
Clostridium sp. AF20-17LB
Clostridium sp. AM33-3
Lachnospira
Lachnospiraceae bacterium
Oscillospiraceae
Roseburia hominis
Butyricicoccus sp. AM29-23AC
Clostridiaceae

Revision editor(s): Tosin

Signature 2

Needs review

Curated date: 2025/03/12

Curator: Tosin

Revision editor(s): Tosin

Source: Figure 3h

Description: Meta-analysed correlations between SGB relative abundance and diet pattern between omnivores (n = 19,817 in pink) and vegans (n = 656 in green)

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in Vegan

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Alistipes putredinis
Anaeromassilibacillus sp. An250
Candidatus Pararuminococcus gallinarum
Clostridia
Clostridia bacterium
Coprococcus comes
Erysipelotrichaceae bacterium
Merdimmobilis hominis
Odoribacter splanchnicus
Oscillospiraceae bacterium
Ruthenibacterium lactatiformans
unclassified Clostridia
Candidatus Avimicrobium caecorum
Bilophila wadsworthia
[Ruminococcus] torques
Lawsonibacter asaccharolyticus
Streptococcus thermophilus
Clostridiaceae bacterium

Revision editor(s): Tosin

Experiment 3


Needs review

Curated date: 2025/03/11

Curator: Victoria

Revision editor(s): Victoria

Differences from previous experiment shown

Subjects

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies
Vegetarian
Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group
Participants whose diet patterns exclude both meat, dairy and other animal products.
Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group
1088

Lab analysis

Statistical Analysis

Signature 1

Needs review

Curated date: 2025/03/14

Curator: Victoria

Revision editor(s): Victoria

Source: Figure 4b

Description: Meta-analysed correlations between SGB relative abundance and diet pattern (vegetarian, n= 1,088 in purple vs vegan, n= 656 in green).

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in Vegan

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Lachnospiraceae bacterium
Clostridia
Ruminococcus sp. AF41-9
Blautia sp. MSK.21.1
Bacillota

Revision editor(s): Victoria

Signature 2

Needs review

Curated date: 2025/03/14

Curator: Victoria

Revision editor(s): Victoria

Source: Figure 4b

Description: Meta-analysed correlations between SGB relative abundance and diet pattern (vegetarian, n= 1,088 in purple vs vegan, n= 656 in green).

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in Vegan

NCBI Quality ControlLinks
Massiliimalia massiliensis
Parabacteroides goldsteinii
Bilophila wadsworthia
Erysipelotrichaceae bacterium
Holdemania sp. Marseille-P2844
Candidatus Borkfalkia ceftriaxoniphila
Lachnospiraceae bacterium
Clostridiaceae bacterium
Clostridia
Lactobacillus acidophilus
Lactococcus lactis
Evtepia gabavorous
Lacticaseibacillus paracasei
Lactobacillus delbrueckii
Bacillota
Lawsonibacter asaccharolyticus
[Ruminococcus] torques
Ruthenibacterium lactatiformans
Clostridia bacterium
Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus
Oscillospiraceae bacterium
Streptococcus thermophilus

Revision editor(s): Victoria