Relationship Between Diet Quality, Intestinal Permeability, and Gut Microbiota Features in Individuals with Obesity.

Higher dietary pattern scores across all three a priori dietary patterns correlated with lower 24-hour urinary sucralose levels, a measure of intestinal permeability.

• HEI-2010 scores correlated with lower 24 h urinary sucralose (r = -0.33, p = 0.002)
• MDP scores correlated with lower 24 h urinary sucralose (r = -0.31, p = 0.004)
• DASH scores correlated with lower 24 h urinary sucralose (r = -0.38, p < 0.0001)
• Study included 103 healthy, obese individuals (mean age 43.8 ± 11.3 years, BMI 37.5 ± 6.1 kg/m2, 64.1% African American)

Higher dietary pattern scores across all three dietary patterns correlated with lower 24-hour sucralose-to-lactulose ratio.

• HEI-2010 scores correlated with lower sucralose-to-lactulose ratio (r = -0.23, p = 0.03)
• MDP scores correlated with lower sucralose-to-lactulose ratio (r = -0.32, p = 0.003)
• DASH scores correlated with lower sucralose-to-lactulose ratio (r = -0.24, p = 0.03)
• Intestinal permeability was assessed via urinary sugar excretion method

Fruit intake consistently correlated with lower intestinal permeability measures across all three dietary patterns.

• Fruit intake showed statistically significant correlations with lower intestinal permeability measures (p < 0.05) for HEI-2010, MDP, and DASH dietary patterns
• Fruit intake was identified as a consistent component across the three distinct dietary pattern frameworks
• Dietary intake was assessed using the Vioscreen food frequency questionnaire

Higher DASH diet scores correlated with lower Proteobacteria phylum abundance in the gut microbiota.

• DASH scores were inversely correlated with Proteobacteria abundance (r = -0.28, p = 0.004)
• Gut microbiota features were characterized using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing
• Relationships were assessed using correlation coefficients and a general linear model

Higher DASH diet scores correlated with higher Verrucomicrobia phylum abundance in the gut microbiota.

• DASH scores were positively correlated with Verrucomicrobia abundance (r = 0.30, p = 0.002)
• This microbiota association was specific to the DASH dietary pattern among the three patterns evaluated
• The study was a post hoc, cross-sectional design with 103 participants