Korea Food Research Institute (KFRI) said on the 23rd that after analyzing diet, health, and gut microbiome information from 2,178 adults in Korea, it confirmed that the association between a low-carbohydrate diet and dyslipidemia, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, showed a clear difference depending on gut microbiome composition.
A low-carbohydrate diet is generally known to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, recent studies have drawn attention to the possibility that the effect of the same low-carbohydrate diet may vary depending on each person's gut microbiome.
When the research team analyzed the data, the prevalence of atherosclerotic dyslipidemia and low HDL cholesterolemia decreased with greater adherence to a low-carbohydrate diet.
Based on this, the researchers examined which gut microbes influence the association between a low-carbohydrate diet and dyslipidemia. People with Bifidobacterium saw lower triglyceride levels with greater adherence to a low-carbohydrate diet. People with Lachnospiraceae UCG-004 saw higher high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels with greater adherence to a low-carbohydrate diet. In contrast, these effects were not observed in people who did not have these gut microbes.
Lim Mi-young, a researcher at the institute, said, "We confirmed that the association between dietary intake and dyslipidemia differs depending on the composition of an individual's gut microbiome," adding, "This will serve as important evidence that individual gut microbiomes should be considered in developing precision diets for health."
The results of this study were published in the international journal in the field of nutrition, "Nutrition Journal," on July.
References
Nutrition Journal (2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12937-025-01188-4