Evaluating the interactive effects of dietary habits and human gut microbiome on the risks of depression and anxiety

Abstract Background Gut microbiome and dietary patterns have been suggested to be associated with depression/anxiety. However, limited effort has been made to explore the effects of possible interactions between diet and microbiome on the risks of depression and anxiety. Methods Using the latest genome-wide association studies findings in gut microbiome and dietary habits, polygenic risk scores (PRSs) analysis of gut microbiome and dietary habits was conducted in the UK Biobank cohort. Logistic/linear regression models were applied for evaluating the associations for gut microbiome-PRS, dietary habits-PRS, and their interactions with depression/anxiety status and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)/Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) score by R software. Results We observed 51 common diet–gut microbiome interactions shared by both PHQ score and depression status, such as overall beef intake × genus Sporobacter [hurdle binary (HB)] ( P PHQ = 7.88 × 10 −4 , P depression status = 5.86 × 10 −4 ); carbohydrate × genus Lactococcus (HB) ( P PHQ = 0.0295, P depression status = 0.0150). We detected 41 common diet–gut microbiome interactions shared by GAD score and anxiety status, such as sugar × genus Parasutterella (rank normal transformed) ( P GAD = 5.15 × 10 −3 , P anxiety status = 0.0347); tablespoons of raw vegetables per day × family Coriobacteriaceae (HB) ( P GAD = 6.02 × 10 −4 , P anxiety status = 0.0345). Some common significant interactions shared by depression and anxiety were identified, such as overall beef intake × genus Sporobacter (HB). Conclusions Our study results expanded our understanding of how to comprehensively consider the relationships for dietary habits–gut microbiome interactions with depression and anxiety.