Diet, physical activity and screen time but not body mass index are associated with the gut microbiome of a diverse cohort of college students living in university housing: a cross-sectional study

Study information

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Shaimaa Elsafoury on 2021/02/09

study design

cross-sectional observational, not case-control

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

30541450

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

10.1186/s12866-018-1362-x

URI

Authors

Whisner CM, Maldonado J, Dente B, Krajmalnik-Brown R, Bruening M

Journal

BMC microbiology

Year

2018

Keywords:

Adolescence, Diet, Lifestyle behaviors, Microbiome, Microbiota, Obesity, Pediatric, Physical activity

BACKGROUND: Modifiable lifestyle factors (e.g. dietary intake and physical activity) are important contributors to weight gain during college. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether associations exist between body mass index, physical activity, screen time, dietary consumption (fat, protein, carbohydrates, and fiber), and gut microbial diversity during the first year of college. Racially/ethnically diverse college students (n = 82; 61.0% non-white) at a large Southwestern university completed self-reported physical activity and 24-h recall dietary assessments, height and weight measurements, and provided one fecal sample for gut microbiome analysis. Fecal microbial community composition was assessed with Illumina MiSeq next-generation sequencing of PCR amplified 16S rRNA genes. Post-hoc analyses compared microbial diversity by groups of high and low physical activity and fiber intake using QIIME and LEfSe bioinformatics software. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were observed between body mass index and gut microbiome abundance and diversity. Median daily consumption of dietary fiber was 11.2 (7.6, 14.9) g/d, while the median self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was 55.7 (27.9, 79.3) min/d and screen time 195.0 (195.0, 315.0) min/d. Microbial analysis by LEfSe identified Paraprevotellaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Lachnospira as important phylotypes in college students reporting greater MVPA, while Enterobacteriaceae and Enterobacteriales were more enriched among students reporting less MVPA (p < 0.05). Barnesiellaceae, Alphaproteobacteria, and Ruminococcus were more abundant taxa among those consuming less than the median fiber intake (p < 0.05). Post-hoc analyses comparing weighted UniFrac distance metrics based on combined categories of high and low MVPA and fiber revealed that clustering distances between members of the high MVPA-low fiber group were significantly smaller when compared to distances between members of all other MVPA-fiber groups (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Habitual fiber consumption and MVPA behaviors help explain the differential abundance of specific microbial taxa and overall gut microbial diversity differences in first-year college students.

Experiment 1

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Curated date: 2021/01/10

Curator: WikiWorks

Revision editor(s): WikiWorks, Victoria

Subjects

Location of subjects: 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

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies: high dietary fiber

Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies: low

Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group: BMI ≥ 30.0 kg/m2 was considered obese

Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 68

Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group: 68

Antibiotics exclusion Number of days without antibiotics usage (if applicable) and other antibiotics-related criteria used to exclude participants (if any): 2-3 months

Lab analysis

Sequencing type: 16S

16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene: V4

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