A new study from South Korea demonstrates how the gut microbiome can affect risk of hypertension. The team compared four major types of gut bacteria and found that Bacteroides2 had the strongest association with hypertension. The work was done by a research team at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital in collaboration with South Korean diagnostics firm GC Genome.
Their findings suggest that modifying dietary habits to alter gut bacteria could help manage and prevent hypertension. The study was published recently in Frontiers in Microbiomes.
“Hypertension is a complex condition influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. And recent studies suggest that gut bacteria play a role in regulating blood pressure,” said Ju Sun Song, MD, lead author of the study and Senior director of the research institute at GC Genome.
“This research provides the scientific evidence in the large Korean population for the first time that modifying dietary habits, such as consuming fruits, vegetables, and following a traditional Korean diet, can aid in the prevention and management of hypertension,” he added.
Hypertension affects an estimated 1.28 billion individuals worldwide, as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). This condition increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, including heart disease and stroke, and poses a significant public health burden.
South Korea, in particular, has witnessed a higher prevalence of hypertension due to an aging population and the adoption of a westernized lifestyle, including greater consumption of meat. The number of hypertension patients surpassed 12 million in 2018 and continues to rise steadily.
The human gut microbiome is estimated to consist of approximately 15,000–36,000 species of bacteria. The total number of these bacterial cells is thought to be equal to the number of human cells. These bacteria are broadly separated into “distinct community composition types termed enterotypes” (Costea et al, 2017).
In this study, researchers recruited over 600 Korean patients who underwent medical checkups, and had their gut microbiomes analyzed using Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology. The team compared four enterotypes based on dietary habits: Prevotella, Bacteroides1, Bacteroides2, and Ruminococcaceae. The results indicated that the Bacteroides2 enterotype, in patients with high animal fat consumption and low microbial diversity, was strongest associated with hypertension.
Conversely, the Ruminococcaceae-dominant enterotype, found more often in patients with higher intake of vegetables and fruits, was less linked to hypertension. Notably, these findings align with the recommendations in the 2017 hypertension clinical guidelines, which suggest increasing the consumption of vegetables, fresh fruits, fish, nuts, and unsaturated fatty acids while reducing the intake of red meat.
The team also confirmed that patients with hypertension with the Bacteroides 2 enterotype had a significantly lower ratio of Faecalibacterium. This bacterium ferments dietary fiber that has reached the large intestine without being digested or absorbed, thereby producing short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) having anti-inflammatory effects and is promising beneficial.
The researchers also advised considering enterotypes, such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) or Faecalibacterium, in clinical studies of hypertension interventions.
