Gut microbiota composition correlates with diet and health in the elderly.
Alterations in intestinal microbiota composition are associated with several chronic conditions, including obesity and inflammatory diseases. The microbiota of older people displays greater inter-individual variation than that of younger adults. Here we show that the faecal microbiota composition from 178 elderly subjects formed groups, correlating with residence location in the community, day-hospital, rehabilitation or in long-term residential care. However, clustering of subjects by diet separated them by the same residence location and microbiota groupings. The separation of microbiota composition significantly correlated with measures of frailty, co-morbidity, nutritional status, markers of inflammation and with metabolites in faecal water. The individual microbiota of people in long-stay care was significantly less diverse than that of community dwellers. Loss of community-associated microbiota correlated with increased frailty. Collectively, the data support a relationship between diet, microbiota and health status, and indicate a role for diet-driven microbiota alterations in varying rates of health decline upon ageing.
Department of Microbiology, University College Cork, Ireland.
Marcus J
MJ
Claesson
Ian B
IB
Jeffery
Susana
S
Conde
Susan E
SE
Power
Eibhlís M
EM
O'Connor
Siobhán
S
Cusack
Hugh M B
HM
Harris
Mairead
M
Coakley
Bhuvaneswari
B
Lakshminarayanan
Orla
O
O'Sullivan
Gerald F
GF
Fitzgerald
Jennifer
J
Deane
Michael
M
O'Connor
Norma
N
Harnedy
Kieran
K
O'Connor
Denis
D
O'Mahony
Douwe
D
van Sinderen
Martina
M
Wallace
Lorraine
L
Brennan
Catherine
C
Stanton
Julian R
JR
Marchesi
Anthony P
AP
Fitzgerald
Fergus
F
Shanahan
Colin
C
Hill
R Paul
RP
Ross
Paul W
PW
O'Toole
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004034:Diet Surveys; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D005638:Fruit; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006262:Health; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006764:Hospitals, Community; D006801:Humans; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology*; D008460:Meat; D054892:Metagenome / Q000502:physiology*; D012047:Rehabilitation Centers; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014675:Vegetables