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High intake of vegetables is linked to lower white blood cell profile and the effect is mediated by the gut microbiome

Menni, Cristina; Louca, Panayiotis; Berry, Sarah E.; Vijay, Amrita; Astbury, Stuart; Leeming, Emily R.; Gibson, Rachel; Asnicar, Francesco; Piccinno, Gianmarco; Wolf, Jonathan; Davies, Richard; Mangino, Massimo; Segata, Nicola; Spector, Tim D.; Valdes, Ana M.

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Authors

Cristina Menni

Panayiotis Louca

Sarah E. Berry

Emily R. Leeming

Rachel Gibson

Francesco Asnicar

Gianmarco Piccinno

Jonathan Wolf

Massimo Mangino

Nicola Segata

Tim D. Spector



Abstract

Background: Chronic inflammation, which can be modulated by diet, is linked to high white blood cell counts and correlates with higher cardiometabolic risk and risk of more severe infections, as in the case of COVID-19.
Methods: Here, we assessed the association between white blood cell profile (lymphocytes, basophils, eosinophils, neutrophils, monocytes and total white blood cells) as markers of chronic inflammation, habitual diet and gut microbiome composition (determined by sequencing of the 16S RNA) in 986 healthy individuals from the PREDICT-1 nutritional intervention study. We then investigated whether the gut microbiome mediates part of the benefits of
vegetable intake on lymphocyte counts.
Results: Higher levels of white blood cells, lymphocytes and basophils were all significantly correlated with lower habitual intake of vegetables, with vegetable intake explaining between 3.59 and 6.58% of variation in white blood cells after adjusting for covariates and multiple testing using false discovery rate (q < 0.1). No such association was seen with fruit intake. A mediation analysis found that 20.00% of the effect of vegetable intake on lymphocyte counts was mediated by one bacterial genus, Collinsella, known to increase with the intake of processed foods and previously associated with fatty liver disease. We further correlated white blood cells to other inflammatory markers including IL6 and GlycA, fasting and post -prandial glucose levels and found a significant relationship between inflammation and diet.
Conclusion: A habitual diet high in vegetables, but not fruits, is linked to a lower inflammatory profile for white blood cells, and a fifth of the effect is mediated by the genus Collinsella.
Trial registration: The ClinicalTrials.gov registration identifier is NCT03479866.

Citation

Menni, C., Louca, P., Berry, S. E., Vijay, A., Astbury, S., Leeming, E. R., …Valdes, A. M. (2021). High intake of vegetables is linked to lower white blood cell profile and the effect is mediated by the gut microbiome. BMC Medicine, 19, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-021-01913-w

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 14, 2021
Online Publication Date Feb 11, 2021
Publication Date 2021-12
Deposit Date May 9, 2021
Publicly Available Date May 17, 2021
Journal BMC Medicine
Electronic ISSN 1741-7015
Publisher Springer Verlag
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 19
Article Number 37
Pages 1-10
DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-021-01913-w
Keywords General Medicine
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5362898
Publisher URL https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-021-01913-w

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