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According to an April 30 2025 study by the North Carolina State University, our diet not only affects our gut microbiome and health, it influences our susceptibility to diseases and even life expectancy.

 

Protein sources in an animal’s diet can have major effects on the human gut microbiome, both in population and function. Alfredo Blakeley-Ruiz, an NC State’s postdoctoral researcher, set out to learn how diets affect our gut, particularly protein diets using an integrated metagenomics-metaproteomics approach. Metagenomics analyzes the entire genetic makeup of a microbial community (DNA) while Metaproteomics, the entire protein.

 

“The composition of the gut microbiome significantly changed every time we changed the protein source.” In their mouse study, protein sources showed extreme effects, the biggest effects being brown rice, yeast and egg whites, adds Blakeley-Ruiz.

 

These proteins caused microbes in the gut to change the production of enzymes that break down glycans, long chains of sugar. One bacterium took over and activated a bunch of glycan-degrading enzymes, which are potentially damaging to our gut lining.