Effects of Traditional Asian Diet on dietary fibre requirement, gut microbiome composition, and faecal and urine metabolomes in healthy Asian women: a pilot study

The Traditional Asian Diet (TAD) is characterised by high dietary fibre and functional foods. This study investigated TAD's effects on meeting fibre requirements, gut microbiome, and faecal and urine metabolomes. A four-week randomised controlled trial was conducted among healthy Asian women allocated into the TAD group (n = 11) following a newly developed TAD program and the control group (n = 11). Assessments included dietary intake, gut health (symptoms, faecal form, frequency), serum fatty acids binding protein-2 (FABP-2) levels, faecal microbiome via 16s rRNA sequencing, and faecal and urine metabolites which were analysed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), respectively. The TAD group showed significant increases in dietary fibre ( P < 0.001), reduced fat ( P < 0.05), and improved faecal form ( P = 0.009) compared to the control group. The TAD group was enriched with Parabacteroides merdae, while Bacteroides uniformis was more abundant in the control group. Individuals with baseline Prevotella copri showed its enrichment following TAD and higher butyrate levels, unlike the control group. The TAD led to lower urine levels of creatinine, dimethylamine, and phenethylamine compared to the control diet. In conclusion, the TAD program has proven beneficial effects in achieving dietary fibre, enriching the beneficial microbiota and metabolites, reducing harmful metabolites, and improving faecal form compared to a control diet. Clinical trial registration: NCT04885959, clinicaltrials.gov.