Impact on Fecal Microbiota and Health-Related Markers of an Intervention Focused on Improving Eating Behavior in People at Risk of Food Insecurity

Abstract

Non-communicable diseases are particularly prevalent among low-income individuals and are associated with the consumption of processed foods, fat, and sugars. This work aims to evaluate the impacts of a nutrition education intervention for low socio-economic individuals on sensory perception, health-related parameters and gut microbiota. Twenty low-income adults underwent a 4-week intervention. Dietary information (three 24 h recalls), detection thresholds and discrimination scores (salty and sweet), and severity of depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II)) were collected. Fecal microbial composition and short chain fatty acids were determined by 16S ribosomal RNA-gene sequencing and gas chromatography, respectively. After the intervention, 35% of subjects presented higher compliance with dietary recommendations, increased consumption of vegetables and lignans and reduced consumption of processed meats and nitrosamines, together with depleted levels of Actinomycetota. Higher discrimination for salty and sweet and lower BDI-II scores were also obtained. This nutrition education intervention entailed changes in dietary intake towards healthier food options, reduced potentially carcinogenic compounds and improved scores for discrimination and severity of depressive symptoms. The confirmation of these results in future studies would enable the design of strategic policies contributing to the optimal nutrition of materially deprived families through affordable healthy plant-based interventions.

New Paradigms in the Diet and Microbiome Relationship

“…This Special Issue closes with a research paper by Zapico et al [15], which shows the impact of implementing an educational program combined with an economic aid in order to promote a healthy Mediterranean-type diet in a group of people at risk of vulnerability. The results presented in this article illustrate the dietary targets in this sample group and how improvements in some dietetic variables, such as the consumption of fruits, vegetables and fish, have an impact on the composition and activity of the gut microbiota and on the presence of depressive symptoms [16].…”