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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Davis, California » Western Human Nutrition Research Center » Diet, Microbiome and Immunity Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #430177
Research Project: Effect of Diet on Gut Microbiome, Gastrointestinal Health, and Immune Function

Location: Diet, Microbiome and Immunity Research

Title: Association between dietary polyphenol intake and polyphenol-utilizing bacteria in healthy adults

Author
item WILSON, STEPHANIE - University Of California, Davis
item OLIVER, ANDREW - University Of California, Davis
item Alkan, Zeynep
item PATIL, BHIMANAGOUDA - Texas A&M University
item Kable, Mary
item Lemay, Danielle

Submitted to: Food & Function
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/21/2026
Publication Date: 6/1/2026
Citation: Wilson, S.M., Oliver, A., Alkan, Z., Patil, B.S., Kable, M.E., Lemay, D.G. 2026. Association between dietary polyphenol intake and polyphenol-utilizing bacteria in healthy adults. Food & Function. 17(15):6868-6881. https://doi.org/10.1039/D6FO00158K.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D6FO00158K

Interpretive Summary: Polyphenols are compounds found in foods such as fruits and vegetables. Many polyphenols escape absorption in the small intestine and reach the large intestine where they can influence the gut microbiome. In turn, gut microbes can transform polyphenols into biologically active compounds. However, few studies have looked at both diet and the gut microbiome to understand how polyphenol consumption relates to the ability of the gut microbiome to metabolize them. We examined diet records and fecal microbiomes from 313 healthy adults and found that people who consumed more diverse polyphenols had more microbial genes involved in breaking down polyphenols, as well as more microbes carrying those genes. Additionally, diets rich in a variety of polyphenols were also linked to greater diversity in polyphenol-utilizing genes. Our results suggest that eating polyphenol-rich foods may support the gut microbiome’s capacity to process polyphenols.

Technical Abstract: Dietary polyphenols are bioactive compounds with a bidirectional impact on the gut microbiome; they shape the microbial community and are transformed through bacterial metabolism. However, there are limited studies pairing metagenomic and dietary data to investigate the relationship between polyphenol intake and the taxonomic and functional profiles of the human gut microbiome. We examined if dietary polyphenol intake associates with microbial composition and polyphenol utilization capacity. Healthy adults participated in a cross-sectional study balanced for age, sex, and BMI. Polyphenol intake was previously estimated by mapping multiple 24-hr dietary recalls to the Food Database (FooDB). We coupled intake with microbial taxonomic and functional profiles from shotgun-sequenced fecal metagenomes (n=313). Microbial reads were mapped to dbPUP, a database with 60 experimentally characterized, gut-associated polyphenol utilization proteins (PUPs). We assessed the relationship of polyphenol intake on microbial diversity, abundance of microbes with PUP genes, PUP gene counts, and select LPS producers, accounting for age, sex, BMI, fiber intake, and diet quality.Specific polyphenols associated with an increased abundance of nine PUP-containing genera. We found 117 associations between polyphenol intake and microbial PUP genes, with 85 associations involving hydrolysis PUPs. Diversity in polyphenol intake was positively associated with diversity in PUP genes but not with microbial diversity. Lastly, we detected a positive relationship between intake of olive-related polyphenol classes and abundance of order Bacteroidales, a producer of immunoinhibitory LPS. Dietary polyphenol intake may influence the gut microbiome's capacity for polyphenol utilization, particularly its hydrolytic activity, without impacting taxonomic diversity or composition.