Milk and Dairy Consumption and Its Relationship With Abundance of Lactobacillus crispatus in the Vaginal Microbiota: Milk Intake and Vaginal Lactobacillus

Abstract

ObjectivesDiet habits, such as low milk and dairy intake, have been associated with bacterial vaginosis. Thus, the authors compared vaginal Lactobacillus crispatus abundances in women with different molecularly defined community state types (CSTs) according to the consumption of milk and/or dairy products.MethodsA total of 516 women from the 5 geographic regions of Brazil were included. Participants were interviewed with a structured questionnaire for assessment of milk and/or dairy intake. Vaginal samples were used for sequencing of V3-V4 regions of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene for further determination of L. crispatus relative abundance (RA) and clustering into 1 of the 5 CSTs (CSTI–CSTV), as firstly described by Ravel et al. (2011). The nonparametric Mann-Whitney test was used to compare L. crispatus RA within the most representative CSTs (L. crispatus-dominant CSTI, Lactobacillus iners-dominant CSTIII, and Lactobacillus-depleted CSTIV) in this population, according to the frequency of milk and/or dairy intake.ResultsThe prevalence of CSTI was 33.3% (n = 172), CSTIII was 39% (n = 201), and CSTIV was 27.7% (n = 143). Among the participants with CSTIII, higher L. crispatus RA was observed for those who reported milk/dairy intake (median = 0.02; interquartile range = 0.01–0.09) than those with no consumption (median = 0.01; interquartile range = 0–0.03) (p = .03). Such difference was not observed for participants with CSTI and CSTIV.ConclusionsWomen with vaginal microbiota dominated by L. iners who consume milk and/or dairy present increased abundances of L. crispatus. Therefore, they could benefit from L. crispatus protective properties conferring greater temporal microbiota stability and, consequently, increased protection against infections.

Population genetic analyses of longitudinal vaginal microbiome reveal racioethnic evolutionary dynamics and prevailing positive selection ofLactobacillusadhesins

“…This may be because non- Lactobacillaceae species such as Gardnerella vaginalis and Fannyhessea vaginae exhibit less persistence in White women than in Black women, as population persistence is key to genomic diversification 65 . Taking our multi-ethnic study and Tortelli et al ’s together, Gardnerella vaginalis and Fannyhessea vaginae likely diverged before the migration of modern humans out of Africa and were later colonized by Lactobacillaceae species, which may coincide with the elevated use of dairy products 77,78 .…”

Unraveling the Gut Microbiome–Diet Connection: Exploring the Impact of Digital Precision and Personalized Nutrition on Microbiota Composition and Host Physiology

“…Another interesting observation was related to the presence and abundance of Lactobacillus crispatus , a dominant species in the cervicovaginal microbiome of Caucasian women, which has already been shown to be influenced by dietary factors. Specifically, studies have found that milk and dairy consumption promote a higher relative abundance of Lactobacillus crispatus in the vaginal microbiota due to its carbohydrate metabolism, particularly glycogen utilization in the vaginal environment [ 81 ]. Although this finding pertains to the mucosal environment of the vagina, it is worth noting that oral supplementation of L. crispatus may involve passage through the gut before reaching the final destination, thus allowing its detection in fecal samples (albeit transiently).…”