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An interventional Soylent diet increases the Bacteroidetes to Firmicutes ratio in human gut microbiome communities: a randomized controlled trial

View ORCID ProfileRyan H. Hsu, View ORCID ProfileDylan M. McCormick, View ORCID ProfileMitchell J. Seitz Jr., Lauren M. Lui, Harneet S. Rishi, Adam P. Arkin
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/200881
Ryan H. Hsu
1Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America
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  • For correspondence: ryan.hsu@berkeley.edu
Dylan M. McCormick
2Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America
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Mitchell J. Seitz Jr.
3Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America
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Lauren M. Lui
4Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, United States of America
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Harneet S. Rishi
5Biophysics Graduate Group, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America
6Designated Emphasis Program in Computational and Genomic Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America
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Adam P. Arkin
4Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, United States of America
7Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America
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Abstract

Our knowledge of the relationship between the gut microbiome and health has rapidly expanded in recent years. Diet has been shown to have causative effects on microbiome composition, which can have subsequent implications on health. Soylent 2.0 is a liquid meal replacement drink that satisfies nearly 20% of all recommended daily intakes per serving. This study aims to characterize the changes in gut microbiota composition resulting from a short-term Soylent diet. Fourteen participants were separated into two groups: 5 in the regular diet group and 9 in the Soylent diet group. The regular diet group maintained a diet closely resembling self-reported regular diets. The Soylent diet group underwent three dietary phases: A) a regular diet for 2 days, B) a Soylent-only diet (five servings of Soylent daily and water as needed) for 4 days, and C) a regular diet for 4 days. Daily logs self-reporting diet, Bristol stool ratings, and any abdominal discomfort were electronically submitted. Eight fecal samples per participant were collected using fecal sampling kits, which were subsequently sent to uBiome, Inc. for sample processing and V4 16S rDNA sequencing. Reads were clustered into operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and taxonomically identified against the GreenGenes 16S database. We find that an individual’s alpha-diversity is not significantly altered during a Soylent-only diet. In addition, principal coordinate analysis using the unweighted UniFrac distance metric shows samples cluster strongly by individual and not by dietary phase. Among Soylent dieters, we find a significant increase in the ratio of Bacteroidetes to Firmicutes abundance, which is associated with several positive health outcomes, including reduced risks of obesity and intestinal inflammation.

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Posted October 13, 2017.
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An interventional Soylent diet increases the Bacteroidetes to Firmicutes ratio in human gut microbiome communities: a randomized controlled trial
Ryan H. Hsu, Dylan M. McCormick, Mitchell J. Seitz Jr., Lauren M. Lui, Harneet S. Rishi, Adam P. Arkin
bioRxiv 200881; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/200881
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An interventional Soylent diet increases the Bacteroidetes to Firmicutes ratio in human gut microbiome communities: a randomized controlled trial
Ryan H. Hsu, Dylan M. McCormick, Mitchell J. Seitz Jr., Lauren M. Lui, Harneet S. Rishi, Adam P. Arkin
bioRxiv 200881; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/200881

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