Adults Having diverse diet have Less antibiotic resistant microbes

We all know that antimicrobial resistance in people is largely based on their gut microbiome, where the microbes are known to carry genetically encoded strategies to survive contact with antibiotics.

In this study, the researchers were looking for specific associations of the levels of antibiotic resistance genes in the microbes of the human gut with both fiber and animal protein in adult diets.

290 healthy adults participated in the study and in this the researchers found that regularly eating a diet with higher levels of fiber and lower levels of protein, especially from beef and pork, was significantly correlated with lower levels of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARG) among their gut microbes.

Those with the lowest levels of ARG in their gut microbiomes also had a greater abundance of strict anaerobic microbes, which are bacteria that do not thrive when oxygen is present and are a hallmark of a healthy gut with low inflammation.

But on the other hand, the amount of animal protein in the diet was not a top predictor of high levels of ARG. The strongest evidence was for the association of higher amounts of soluble fiber in the diet with lower levels of ARGs.

Hence, it was seen that those people who had the highest levels of ARG in their gut microbiomes were found to have significantly less diverse gut microbiomes compared to groups with low and medium levels of ARG.