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

• Published in: Cell Vol. 187; no. 17; pp. 4554 - 4570.e18
• Main Authors: Piperni, Elisa, Nguyen, Long H., Manghi, Paolo, Kim, Hanseul, Pasolli, Edoardo, Andreu-Sánchez, Sergio, Arrè, Alberto, Bermingham, Kate M., Blanco-Míguez, Aitor, Manara, Serena, Valles-Colomer, Mireia, Bakker, Elco, Busonero, Fabio, Davies, Richard, Fiorillo, Edoardo, Giordano, Francesca, Hadjigeorgiou, George, Leeming, Emily R., Lobina, Monia, Masala, Marco, Maschio, Andrea, McIver, Lauren J., Pala, Mauro, Pitzalis, Maristella, Wolf, Jonathan, Fu, Jingyuan, Zhernakova, Alexandra, Cacciò, Simone M., Cucca, Francesco, Berry, Sarah E., Ercolini, Danilo, Chan, Andrew T., Huttenhower, Curtis, Spector, Tim D., Segata, Nicola, Asnicar, Francesco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 22.08.2024
• Subjects: Blastocystis hominis; cardiometabolic health; diet and microbiome; human gut microbiome; integrative metagenomics; metagenomics; micro-eukaryote; microbiome meta-analysis; transkingdom microbiome analysis; diet and microbiome; integrative metagenomics; metagenomics; microbiome meta-analysis; transkingdom microbiome analysis; micro-eukaryote; cardiometabolic health; human gut microbiome; Blastocystis hominis
• ISSN: 0092-8674; 1097-4172; 1097-4172
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.06.018

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. [Display omitted] •Prevalence of Blastocystis in the gut microbiome varies across geography and lifestyle•Healthier plant-based diets are linked with higher gut Blastocystis carriage•Blastocystis-positive subjects tend to have healthier cardiometabolic profiles•Blastocystis presence increases after a diet-improving intervention program A global-scale metagenomic exploration of Blastocystis was performed from 56,989 individuals across 32 countries. Blastocystis was seen to be widely present in healthy adults, with prevalence and abundance patterns linked to geography, dietary habits, and cardiometabolic profiles.