Gut microbiome may influence cardiometabolic health disparities for women
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Researchers identified differences in gut microbiome that may influence cardiometabolic health disparities between Black and white women with insulin resistance, according to a pilot cross-sectional study data published in PLOS ONE.
“The majority of microbiome studies in Black women have focused on the vaginal microbiome in relation to fertility and reproductive health,” Candace A. Price, PhD, assistant adjunct professor in the department of molecular biosciences at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, and colleagues wrote. “To our knowledge, only three studies have examined gut bacteria from fecal samples of Black women. Of these, only one compared bacteria profiles between overweight, pre- and postmenopausal Black and white women.”
Researchers measured the relative abundance of bacteria found in 168 fecal samples from 94 Black and 74 white women from the National Growth and Health Study. Analysis was conducted by self-identified race and by race and insulin sensitivity status.
Compared with white women, more Black women were identified as having insulin resistance (50% vs. 30%). Researchers observed significant differences in beta diversity at the family level by race (P = .033) and by race and insulin sensitivity (P = .038).
Regardless of their insulin sensitivity, Black women had greater relative abundances of the phylum Actinobacteria compared with white women (P = .003). Researchers observed interactions between race and insulin sensitivity for Verrucomicrobia; Black women with insulin resistance had a fourfold higher abundance compared with white women. In addition, at the family level, there were significant interactions between race and insulin sensitivity for both Lachnospiraceae (P = .007) and Clostridiales Family XIII (P = .01).
There was no difference in alpha diversity by race or by race and insulin sensitivity status.
“A follow-up longitudinal investigation is needed in order to better understand the significance of these findings with the inclusion of social determinants of health as potential mediators,” the researchers wrote. “Since this is a cross-sectional study, we cannot determine causal directions or bidirectionality of the relationships observed. However, it is possible that social and environmental factors associated with Black race contribute to a unique microbiota profile, that in turn contributes to inflammation and insulin resistance, independent of obesity.”
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