Soy food intake associates with changes in the metabolome and reduced blood pressure in a gut microbiota dependent manner

Abstract

Background and aims: Consumption of soy foods has been associated with protection against cardiometabolic disease, but the mechanisms are incompletely understood. We hypothesized that habitual soy food consumption associates with gut microbiome composition, metabolite production, and the interaction between diet, microbiota and metabolites.

Methods and results: We analyzed dietary soy intake, plasma and stool metabolites, and gut microbiome data from two independent cross-sectional samples of healthy US individuals (N = 75 lean or overweight, and N = 29 obese). Habitual soy intake associated with several circulating metabolites. There was a significant interaction between soy intake and gut microbiome composition, as defined by gut enterotype, on metabolites in plasma and stool. Soy consumption associated with reduced systolic blood pressure, but only in a subset of individuals defined by their gut microbiome enterotype, suggesting that responsiveness to soy may be dependent on microbiome composition. Soy intake was associated with differences in specific microbial taxa, including two taxa mapping to genus Dialister and Prevotella which appeared to be suppressed by high soy intake We identified context-dependent effects of these taxa, where presence of Prevotella was associated with higher blood pressure and a worse cardiometabolic profile, but only in the absence of Dialister.

Conclusions: The gut microbiome is an important intermediate in the interplay between dietary soy intake and systemic metabolism. Consumption of soy foods may shape the microbiome by suppressing specific taxa, and may protect against hypertension only in individuals with soy-responsive microbiota.

Clinical trials registry: NCT02010359 at clinicaltrials.gov.

Keywords: Blood pressure; Cardiometabolic health; Metabolome; Microbiome; Nutrition; Soy.

Copyright © 2020 The Italian Diabetes Society, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Figures

Figure 1. Significant gut-enterotype interactions on the association between dietary soy intake and metabolites in plasma (A, B), Stool (C), and Systolic Blood Pressure (D).

Data shown for short-term soy intake. Results for long-term soy intake were almost identical. All interactions p

Figure 2. Significant association between dietary soy isoflavone intake and abundance of individual OTUs mapping to Prevotella (A) and Dialister (B).

Data shown for short-term soy intake. Results for long-term soy intake were almost identical. Using soy isoflavone intake dichotomized by a cut-point of 3 mg/day (selected to separate low consumers from moderate-high consumers), individuals with higher soy intake had significantly lower abundance of both taxa (p

Figure 3. Prevotella associates with increased blood pressure and cardiometabolic risk markers, but not when Dialister is also present.

After splitting the sample into 4 groups based on the presence or absence of either taxon, we found significantly higher blood pressure, waist circumference, and c-reactive protein in individuals carrying Prevotella alone, but not when carrying Prevotella and Dialister (overall ANOVA p < 0.0001, all post-hoc comparisons p < 0.05). Individuals carrying Dialister alone had the same risk profiles as people carrying either both or neither taxon.