Pulse Brain · Growing Health Evidence Index
Tier 3 — Observational / field trialPeer-reviewed

Combined effects of host genetics and diet on human gut microbiota and incident disease in a single population cohort

Youwen Qin, Aki S. Havulinna, Yang Liu, Pekka Jousilahti, Scott C. Ritchie, Alex Tokolyi, Jon G. Sanders, Liisa Valsta, Marta Brożyńska, Qiyun Zhu, Anupriya Tripathi, Yoshiki Vázquez‐Baeza, Rohit Loomba, Susan Cheng, Mohit Jain, Teemu Niiranen, Leo Lahti, Rob Knight, Veikko Salomaa, Michael Inouye, Guillaume Méric

Nature Genetics · 2022

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Summary

This 2022 Nature Genetics study investigated the combined effects of host genetics and diet on human gut microbiota composition within a single prospective population cohort. The research appears to demonstrate that genetic variation and dietary intake jointly shape microbiota structure and function in ways that associate with disease incidence, suggesting that personalised microbiota-based risk stratification may require consideration of both genetic and dietary context. The work contributes to understanding how gene–diet–microbiota interactions influence health outcomes at the population level.

UK applicability

Findings regarding genetic and dietary determinants of microbiota composition and disease risk are broadly applicable to UK populations, particularly where dietary assessment tools and genetic databases are available. However, direct translation may require validation in UK cohorts that account for distinct dietary patterns and genetic ancestry distributions characteristic of the British population.

Key measures

Gut microbiota composition (16S rRNA sequencing), host genetic variants, dietary intake questionnaires, incident disease diagnosis, microbiota–diet–gene interactions

Outcomes reported

The study examined how host genetic variation and dietary patterns jointly influence gut microbiota composition and their associations with incident disease outcomes in a prospective cohort. Researchers measured microbiota taxonomic and functional features alongside genetic markers and dietary intake to identify disease-relevant microbial signatures.

Theme
Nutrition & health
Subject
Gut microbiome & human health
Study type
Research
Study design
Observational cohort
Source type
Peer-reviewed study
Status
Published
Geography
Finland
System type
Human clinical
DOI
10.1038/s41588-021-00991-z
Catalogue ID
SNmoj1xw2i-rzf392

Topic tags

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