The first study of its kind, recently published in ‘Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular disease’ correlates gut microbe species with diet quality markers using the NOVA classification.

The cross-sectional study examined 59 women and evaluated the following parameters: food consumption using NOVA classification, anthropometric and metabolic parameters, and gut microbiome by next-generation sequencing. The mean age was 28.0 ± 6.6 years. The mean caloric intake was 1624 ± 531 kcal, of which unprocessed or minimally processed food (G1) accounted for 52.4 ± 13.5%, and ultra processed food (UPF) accounted for 31.4 ± 13.6%. Leptin levels adjusted for fat mass were negatively associated with G1 and positively associated with UPF. The investigators identified 15 species in the gut microbiome that correlated with G1 and 9 species associated with UPF.

The team remarked that higher consumption of UPF was directly associated with leptin resistance, and that the consumption of UPF or G1 may affect the composition of the gut microbiota.