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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Microbes
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1519346
This article is part of the Research Topic Dietary Modulation of Gut Microbiota-X axis View all 5 articles

Association Between the Dietary Index for Gut Microbiota and Diabetes: The Mediating Role of Phenotypic Age and Body Mass Index

Provisionally accepted
Yingxuan Huang Yingxuan Huang 1Xiaobo Liu Xiaobo Liu 2Lin Chanchan Lin Chanchan 1Xinqi Chen Xinqi Chen 1Yingyi Li Yingyi Li 1Yisen Huang Yisen Huang 1Yubin Wang Yubin Wang 1Xiaoqiang Liu Xiaoqiang Liu 1*
  • 1 Quanzhou First Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, China
  • 2 McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objectives: The global prevalence of diabetes is continuously rising, and the gut microbiota is closely associated with it. The Dietary Index for Gut Microbiota (DI-GM) assesses the impact of diet on the microbiota, but its association with diabetes risk remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the association between DI-GM and the risk of diabetes and analyze the mediating roles of phenotypic age and body mass index (BMI). Methods: Utilizing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2018, we included 17,444 adults aged 20 years and older. DI-GM (score range: 0–13) was calculated based on dietary recall. Diabetes was diagnosed based on laboratory results and self-reported information. Multivariable logistic regression was used to analyze the association between DI-GM and diabetes, adjusting for relevant covariates. Mediation analysis evaluated the roles of phenotypic age and BMI. Results: After adjusting for confounders, higher DI-GM scores were significantly associated with a lower risk of diabetes (OR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.90–0.96, P < 0.001). Compared to the group with DI-GM scores of 0–3, those with scores of 5 (OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.67–0.86) and ≥6 (OR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.68–0.88) had significantly reduced diabetes risk. Phenotypic age and BMI accounted for 41.02% and 25.57% of the association between DI-GM and diabetes, respectively. Conclusion: Higher DI-GM scores are associated with a lower risk of diabetes, partially mediated through reduced phenotypic age and BMI.

    Keywords: Dietary Index for Gut Microbiota, diabetes, Phenotypic Age, Body Mass Index, Mediation analysis, NHANES

    Received: 29 Oct 2024; Accepted: 08 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Huang, Liu, Chanchan, Chen, Li, Huang, Wang and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xiaoqiang Liu, Quanzhou First Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, China

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