方法:膳食蛋白质和必需氨基酸(EAA)是主要的营养补充剂,支持肠道微生物的生长和活性,有助于宿主的健康。这项研究假设每天补充EAA或乳清蛋白12周将改善老年人的肠道微生物组。
结果:处理粪便样品并进行基于Illumina的16S核糖体核糖核酸(rRNA)基因扩增子测序。在这两组中,按相对丰度顺序发现的最丰富的家族包括:拟杆菌科,落叶松科,Ruminocycaceae,Prevotellaceae,Rikenellaceae,肠杆菌科,螺旋藻科,制革草科,和Akkermansiaceae,这表明这些受试者能够在他们的肠道中保持同样健康的微生物多样性。一个重要的发现是促炎细胞因子的减少,EAAs组的白细胞介素-18(IL-18)。它还使用标准的6分钟步行测试(6MWT)作为心肺健康的量度。在研究结束时,与乳清组相比,EAA组中的受试者在6MWT中的表现明显更好。
结论:改善的身体机能和减少的促炎细胞因子似乎是合理的,在EAAs组中看到的IL-18,与肠道微生物群的变化无关。
METHODS: Dietary proteins and essential amino acids (EAAs) are the major nutritional supplements that support the growth and activity of gut microbes contributing to the wellbeing of their host. This study hypothesizes that daily supplementation of the diet with either EAAs or whey protein for 12 weeks would improve the gut microbiome of older adults.
RESULTS: The stool samples are processed and subjected to Illumina-based 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) gene amplicon sequencing. In both groups, the most abundant families are found in order of relative abundance included: Bacteroidaceae, Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae, Prevotellaceae, Rikenellaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Oscillospiraceae, Tannerellaceae, and Akkermansiaceae, which indicate that these subjects are able to maintain a same healthy microbial diversity in their guts. A significant finding is a reduction of proinflammatory cytokine, interleukin-18 (IL-18) in the EAAs group. It also uses the standard 6-min walking test (6MWT) as a measure of cardiopulmonary fitness. At the end of the study, the subjects in the EAAs group perform significantly better in the 6MWT as compared to the whey group.
CONCLUSIONS: It seems plausible that the improved physical performance and reduced proinflammatory cytokine, IL-18 seen in the EAAs group, are independent of changes in gut microbiota.