Diet-Microbiome Interactions Influence Lung Function in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) affects 30 million Americans. Previous epidemiologic work has shown that diet can impact pulmonary function in those with and without COPD. Diet is also a major driver of gut microbiome composition and function. Importantly, the gut microbiome has also been associated with lung health (i.e., the gut-lung axis) in both preclinical and clinical studies. Despite this growing body of evidence, many questions remain regarding the gut-lung axis. It is not well understood if dietary patterns correlate with the microbiome, pulmonary function testing (PFT), or stage of disease in people with COPD, and little is known about the role the microbiome plays in impacting these relationships. We hypothesize that there are taxonomic differences in the gut microbiome among the different stages of COPD and that diet microbiome interactions influence pulmonary function. This study aimed to identify how the GI microbiota correlated with the severity of respiratory disease in COPD patients and how the microbiome may mediate the relationship between diet, including fiber and omega-3 fatty acids, and lung function outcomes.This study demonstrates that dietary fiber and omega-3 fatty acids influence lung function in individuals with COPD. Further, this study demonstrates that the composition of the GI microbiota, in part, mediated the interaction between diet and lung function in individuals with COPD.