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Intestinal Blastocystis is linked to healthier diets and more favorable cardiometabolic outcomes in 56,989 individuals from 32 countries

Affiliations
  • 1Department CIBIO, University of Trento, Trento, Italy; IEO, Istituto Europeo di Oncologia IRCSS, Milan, Italy.
  • 2Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Chan Microbiome in Public Health Center, Boston, MA, USA.
  • 3Department CIBIO, University of Trento, Trento, Italy.
  • 4Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
  • 5Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Portici, Italy.
  • 6Department of Genetics, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; Department of Pediatrics, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
  • 7Department CIBIO, University of Trento, Trento, Italy; Zoe Ltd, London, UK.
  • 8Zoe Ltd, London, UK; Department of Nutritional Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK.
  • 9Zoe Ltd, London, UK.
  • 10Istituto di Ricerca Genetica e Biomedica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Monserrato, Cagliari, Italy.
  • 11Department of Twins Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London, London, UK.
  • 12Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
  • 13Department of Genetics, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
  • 14Department of Infectious Diseases, Istituto Superiore Di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
  • 15Istituto di Ricerca Genetica e Biomedica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Monserrato, Cagliari, Italy; Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
  • 16Department of Nutritional Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK.
  • 17Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
  • 18Department CIBIO, University of Trento, Trento, Italy; IEO, Istituto Europeo di Oncologia IRCSS, Milan, Italy; Department of Twins Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London, London, UK. Electronic address: nicola.segata@unitn.it.
  • 19Department CIBIO, University of Trento, Trento, Italy. Electronic address: f.asnicar@unitn.it.

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July 9, 2024

Abstract

Diet impacts human health, influencing body adiposity and the risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases. The gut microbiome is a key player in the diet-health axis, but while its bacterial fraction is widely studied, the role of micro-eukaryotes, including Blastocystis, is underexplored. We performed a global-scale analysis on 56,989 metagenomes and showed that human Blastocystis exhibits distinct prevalence patterns linked to geography, lifestyle, and dietary habits. Blastocystis presence defined a specific bacterial signature and was positively associated with more favorable cardiometabolic profiles and negatively with obesity (p < 1e-16) and disorders linked to altered gut ecology (p < 1e-8). In a diet intervention study involving 1,124 individuals, improvements in dietary quality were linked to weight loss and increases in Blastocystis prevalence (p = 0.003) and abundance (p < 1e-7). Our findings suggest a potentially beneficial role for Blastocystis, which may help explain personalized host responses to diet and downstream disease etiopathogenesis.

Keywords:

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