Despite the increasing intake of protein in the Western diet, particularly among athletes and obese individuals, the fate of undigested proteins and their impact on human health remain largely unknown.
This research provides a new, more complete picture of the effects of high-protein diets on overall health.
The study is carried out on mice using a series of experiments. Daily fecal samples and weekly body composition measurements were collected to monitor changes in fat and fat-free mass. DNA was extracted from stools and sequencing was performed to analyze microbial composition and dynamics during the study period. These analyzes reveal that:
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switching to a high protein diet, all proteins contained, leads to significant weight loss and a reduction in body fat;
- this same change in diet induces immediate changes in the intestinal microbiome;
- different protein diets induce different effects on the activity of the intestinal microbiome: for example, increased consumption of proteins rich in aromatic amino acids (used for the body’s production of hormones and protein synthesis) leads to weight loss and the most consistent fat mass, particularly compared to a standard protein diet rich in branched-chain amino acids.
- more broadly, the comparison of the microbial composition according to the favored group of proteins reveals a significantly different abundance and composition of microbial taxa; using machine learning techniques, researchers were able to predict protein diets based on gut microbial taxa with 97% accuracy, confirming the relationship between diet and microbiome changes;
- so, overall, species of gut bacteria respond differently to dietary changes, from high-carb to high-protein diets and, more importantly, according to amino acid groups. The most substantial changes occurred in the group fed branched-chain amino acids.
It is therefore a new basis for understanding the influence of different protein diets on the intestinal microbiome. “which supports further research into the role of diet in promoting a healthy gut and overall health”concludes one of the lead authors, Samson Adejumo, a biology researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Although it is too early to say conclusively that protein diets are behind all the observed changes in body composition and gut bacteria,
