Alteration of faecal microbiota balance related to long-term deep meditation

Study information

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Folakunmi on 2024-1-3

study design

cross-sectional observational, not case-control

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

36760344

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

10.1136/gpsych-2022-100893

URI

Authors

Sun Y, Ju P, Xue T, Ali U, Cui D, Chen J

Journal

General psychiatry

Year

2023

Keywords:

Healthy Lifestyle, Mental Health, Psychosomatic Medicine

BACKGROUND: Advancements in research have confirmed that gut microbiota can influence health through the microbiota-gut-brain axis. Meditation, as an inner mental exercise, can positively impact the regulation of an individual's physical and mental health. However, few studies have comprehensively investigated faecal microbiota following long-term (several years) deep meditation. Therefore, we propose that long-term meditation may regulate gut microbiota homeostasis and, in turn, affect physical and mental health. AIMS: To investigate the effects of long-term deep meditation on the gut microbiome structure. METHODS: To examine the intestinal flora, 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed on faecal samples of 56 Tibetan Buddhist monks and neighbouring residents. Based on the sequencing data, linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) was employed to identify differential intestinal microbial communities between the two groups. Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt) analysis was used to predict the function of faecal microbiota. In addition, we evaluated biochemical indices in the plasma. RESULTS: The α-diversity indices of the meditation and control groups differed significantly. At the genus level, Prevotella and Bacteroides were significantly enriched in the meditation group. According to the LEfSe analysis, two beneficial bacterial genera (Megamonas and Faecalibacterium) were significantly enriched in the meditation group. Functional predictive analysis further showed that several pathways-including glycan biosynthesis, metabolism and lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis-were significantly enriched in the meditation group. Moreover, plasma levels of clinical risk factors were significantly decreased in the meditation group, including total cholesterol and apolipoprotein B. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term traditional Tibetan Buddhist meditation may positively impact physical and mental health. We confirmed that the gut microbiota composition differed between the monks and control subjects. The microbiota enriched in monks was associated with a reduced risk of anxiety, depression and cardiovascular disease and could enhance immune function. Overall, these results suggest that meditation plays a positive role in psychosomatic conditions and well-being.

Experiment 1

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Folakunmi on 2024-1-3

Curated date: 2023/10/05

Curator: Nwajei Edgar

Revision editor(s): Nwajei Edgar, Deacme, LGeistlinger

Subjects

Location of subjects: China

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: Exercise Exercise,exercise

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

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

Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group: Tibetan Buddhist monks that performed meditation practices of Samatha and Vipassana for at least 2 hours a day for 3 to 30 years.

Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 19

Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group: 37

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

Lab analysis

Sequencing type: 16S

16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene: V3-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

Statistical test: LEfSe

Significance threshold p-value or FDR threshold used for differential abundance testing (if any): 0.05

MHT correction Have statistical tests be corrected for multiple hypothesis testing (MHT)?: No

LDA Score above Threshold for the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) score for studies using the popular LEfSe tool: 3.6

Matched on Factors on which subjects have been matched on in a case-control study: age, alcohol drinking, diet, sex, smoking status

Alpha Diversity

Shannon Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species richness: decreased

Chao1 Abundance-based estimator of species richness: decreased

Simpson Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species evenness: decreased

Richness Number of species: decreased

Signature 1

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Folakunmi on 2024-1-3

Curated date: 2023/10/05

Curator: Nwajei Edgar

Revision editor(s): Nwajei Edgar, Deacme

Source: Figure 4

Description: Relative abundances of gut microbiota and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe) in the meditation and control groups.

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in Meditation group

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Faecalibacterium
Megamonas
Prevotella
Bacteroides
Bacteroidales
Sutterellaceae
Burkholderiales
Betaproteobacteria

Revision editor(s): Nwajei Edgar, Deacme

Signature 2

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Folakunmi on 2024-1-3

Curated date: 2023/10/05

Curator: Nwajei Edgar

Revision editor(s): Nwajei Edgar, Deacme, Folakunmi

Source: Figure 4

Description: Relative abundances of gut microbiota and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe) in the meditation and control groups.

Abundance in Group 1: decreased abundance in Meditation group

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Bifidobacterium
Candidatus Saccharibacteria
Collinsella
Dialister
Megasphaera
Roseburia
Streptophyta
Veillonellaceae
Actinomycetota
Gammaproteobacteria

Revision editor(s): Nwajei Edgar, Deacme, Folakunmi