Association between Gut Microbiota and Muscle Strength in Japanese General Population of the Iwaki Health Promotion Project

The association between the gut microbiota and muscle strength has garnered attention in the context of mitigating muscle decline. However, many study subjects have been individuals with existing illnesses or the elderly only. This study aims to elucidate the association between the gut microbiota a...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yoshikuni Sugimura, Yichi Yang, Akira Kanda, Akihiro Mawatari, Yoshinori Tamada, Tatsuya Mikami, Shigeyuki Nakaji, Kazushige Ihara
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-03-01
Series:Microorganisms
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/12/3/622
Description
Summary:The association between the gut microbiota and muscle strength has garnered attention in the context of mitigating muscle decline. However, many study subjects have been individuals with existing illnesses or the elderly only. This study aims to elucidate the association between the gut microbiota and muscle strength indicators using grip strength/BMI in a large-scale study of community residents. The mean age of men (<i>n</i> = 442) and women (<i>n</i> = 588) was 50.5 (15.3) and 51.2 (15.9) years, respectively. The muscle strength indicator used was grip/BMI. The association between total read count and genus-level gut microbiota and muscle strength was analyzed. The mean grip/BMI was 1.8 (0.3) for men and 1.2 (0.2) for women. The genus of the gut microbiota that showed an association in both sexes was <i>Eggerthella</i> (men: <i>β</i> = 0.18, CI: 0.04–0.31, <i>p</i> = 0.009; women: <i>β</i> = 0.07, CI: 0.00–0.12, <i>p</i> = 0.028). <i>Blautia</i>, <i>Eggerthella</i> and <i>Faecalibacterium</i> were found to be significantly associated with grip/BMI in both the multiple regression analysis and Spearman’s correlation analysis after the multiple comparison adjustment. These results suggest that an increase in <i>Blautia</i> and <i>Eggerthella</i>, coupled with a decrease in <i>Faecalibacterium</i>, may contribute to muscle strengthening or the suppression of muscle weakness.
ISSN:2076-2607