Does our microbiome differ between races?

It is known that our gut microbiota plays an important role in health and disease. Several publications established the concept that the diversity and stability of our gut microbiota may protect us from several diseases.

Abnormal alterations in the gut microbiome have been linked to several diseases; however, even in normal individuals, the gut microbiome shows great diversity, which may be associated with genetic and environmental factors.

Eating habits represent the most important factor that can affect the composition of the gut microbiome and may further influence our health over a long period of time, giving rise to the saying; ’we are what we eat’. 

Recently, differences between gut microbiome from various countries have been revealed. However, differences among various races have received less attention. Such diversity may be induced by differences in eating habits, culture and genetic variations and could reflect the specific function of a gut microbiome found within a given race. For example, as we all know, Americans, compared to the Asian and the Mediterraneans have quite fewer people with lactose intolerance and deficiency. This might be caused by population-specific colonization of certain bacteria. It could be that  just like various countries are characterized by different gut microbiome characteristics, this is the case for different races as well.

In a recently published study (Lei Chen et al 2016), researchers studied the gut microbiome of three different races, including individuals of Asian, European and American races. The study further identified the gene profile diversity of different races, not only countries. The gut microbiome and the expression levels of gut microbiomes genes were analyzed in these individuals.

Overall, the extracted genes reflect differences among these races, such as eating habits, living environment and metabolic levels, which are also important factors that can influence the composition of the gut microbiome.

Source: LeiChen et al 2016. Gene expression profiling gut microbiota in different races of humans. Scientific reports 6:23075