Diet plays a pivotal role in shaping the human gut microbiome. However, the relationship between specific foods and the gut microbiome remains only partially understood. Coffee, a widely consumed beverage with well-established metabolic and health benefits, has been previously shown to exhibit a strong correlation with microbiome components.

      A recent study, published in Nature Microbiology, conducted a multi-cohort, multi-omic analysis of US and UK populations, incorporating dietary data from 22,867 participants and integrating it with public data from 211 cohorts (N = 54,198). The cohorts included detailed monitoring of participants’ nutritional habits, personal and anthropometric characteristics, and stool sample analysis. Dietary information was gathered using food frequency questionnaires that varied across the cohorts.

      The study identified the bacterial strain Lachnospiraceae asaccharolyticus (L. asaccharolyticus) as having the highest and most uniform prevalence across all cohorts (93.5%) and found it to be strongly associated with coffee consumption. Individuals who drank more than three cups of coffee per day had up to eightfold higher levels of this bacteria in their gut compared to those who consumed fewer than three cups of coffee per month. Remarkably, this relationship was consistent across populations in 25 different countries.

      The researchers hypothesized that L. asaccharolyticus might play a key role in mediating coffee's health benefits. This bacterial strain appears capable of metabolizing components in coffee into other compounds with potentially greater health benefits. These findings provide a metabolic link between a specific gut microorganism and a dietary component, offering a framework for understanding microbial dietary responses at the biochemical level.

      This groundbreaking study highlights the intricate relationship between diet and the gut microbiome, emphasizing coffee's role in influencing gut health and its potential metabolic impact.