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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2022 Oct 6;17(10):e0275275.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275275. eCollection 2022.

The effects of fermented vegetable consumption on the composition of the intestinal microbiota and levels of inflammatory markers in women: A pilot and feasibility study

Amy E Galena  1 , Jianmin Chai  2 , Jiangchao Zhang  2 , Michele Bednarzyk  3 , Doreen Perez  3 , Judith D Ochrietor  4 , Alireza Jahan-Mihan  1 , Andrea Y Arikawa  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

The effects of fermented vegetable consumption on the composition of the intestinal microbiota and levels of inflammatory markers in women: A pilot and feasibility study

Amy E Galena et al. PLoS One. .

Erratum in

Abstract

The primary objective of this pilot study was to investigate the feasibility of regular consumption of fermented vegetables for six weeks on markers of inflammation and the composition of the gut microflora in women (clinical trials ID: NTC03407794). Thirty-one women were randomized into one of three groups: 100 g/day of fermented vegetables (group A), 100 g/day pickled vegetables (group B), or no vegetables (group C) for six weeks. Dietary intake was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire and blood and stool samples were provided before and after the intervention for measurement of C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP). Next-generation sequencing of the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was performed on the Illumina MiSeq platform. Participants' ages ranged between 18 and 69 years. Both groups A and B had a mean daily consumption of 91g of vegetables for 32 and 36 days, respectively. Serum CRP ranged between 0.9 and 265 ng/mL (SD = 92.4) at baseline, while TNF-α and LBP concentrations ranged between 0 and 9 pg/mL (SD = 2.3), and 7 and 29 μg/mL (SD = 4.4), respectively. There were no significant changes in levels of inflammatory markers among groups. At timepoint 2, group A showed an increase in Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (P = 0.022), a decrease in Ruminococcus torques (P<0.05), and a trend towards greater alpha diversity measured by the Shannon index (P = 0.074). The findings indicate that consumption of ~100 g/day of fermented vegetables for six weeks is feasible and may result in beneficial changes in the composition of the gut microbiota. Future trials should determine whether consumption of fermented vegetables is an effective strategy against gut dysbiosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Consort diagram showing the flow of participants in the fermented vegetable study.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Microbial composition ranked by relative abundance.
Observed phyla for treatment groups (A and B) or genus for individual participants (C and D) are shown. A1 = Group A (fermented vegetable) at week 0; A2 = Group A (fermented vegetable) at week 6; B1 = Group B (pickled vegetable) at week 0; B2 = Group B (pickled vegetable) at week 6; C1 = Group C (control) at week 0; C2 = Group C (control) at week 6.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Microbial diversity expressed as observed OTUs and Shannon index.
Box plots representing the observed OTUs and Shannon index are shown for each treatment group and time point. P-values for significant or nearly significant differences between groups are shown. The points with a connected line represent samples from the same individual at the two time points. A1 = Group A (fermented vegetable) at week 0; A2 = Group A (fermented vegetable) at week 6; B1 = Group B (pickled vegetable) at week 0; B2 = Group B (pickled vegetable) at week 6; C1 = Group C (control) at week 0; C2 = Group C (control) at week 6.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Top 20 OTUs (operational taxonomic units).
OTUs are classified at the subgenus level and by relative abundance. OTU1 (Blautia wexlerae), OTU2 Bifidobacterium (Bifidobacterium longum), OTU3 Faecalibacterium (Faecalibacterium prausnitzii), OTU4 Blautia (Blautia lut), OTU 5 Roseburia (Roseburia faecis), OTU6 Blautia (Blautia glucerasea), OTU7 (Akkermansia muciniphila), OTU8 (Collinsella aerofaciens), OTU9 (Anaerostipes hadrus), OTU10 (Ruminococcus bromii). A1: fermented vegetable group timepoint 1, A2: fermented vegetable group timepoint 2, B1: non-fermented vegetable group timepoint 1, B2: non-fermented vegetable group timepoint 2, C1: control group timepoint 1, C2: control group timepoint 2).
Fig 5
Fig 5. Microbial β-diversity expressed as Bray-Curtis and Jaccard distances.
PCoA plots of Bray-Curtis and Jaccard distances are shown for each treatment. Week 0 and week 6 were compared in each. A1 = Group A (fermented vegetable) at week 0; A2 = Group A (fermented vegetable) at week 6; B1 = Group B (pickled vegetable) at week 0; B2 = Group B (pickled vegetable) at week 6; C1 = Group C (control) at week 0; C2 = Group C (control) at week 6.
Fig 6
Fig 6. LEfSe analysis of selected operational taxonomic units of individual participants.
Relative abundance of (A) OTU32 (Ruminococcus torques) for Group A, (B) OTU206 (Negativibacillus massiliensis) for Group B, and (C) OTU163 (Mediterraneibacter glycyrrhizinilyticus) for Group C are shown. Each bar represents one participant, and the order of participants is the same for week 0 and week 6. Solid horizontal lines represent mean relative abundance whereas the dashed horizontal lines represent the median relative abundance. A1 = Group A (fermented vegetable) at week 0; A2 = Group A (fermented vegetable) at week 6; B1 = Group B (pickled vegetable) at week 0; B2 = Group B (pickled vegetable) at week 6; C1 = Group C (control) at week 0; C2 = Group C (control) at week 6.
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Publication types

Grants and funding

AYA received an internal grant, the Us Women and Girls' Health Endowed Research Professorship, #764010. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.