(P19-052-23) Association Between Healthy Eating Index and Oral Microbiome Among Postmenopausal Women

Objectives: To examine the cross-sectional association between the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI) and the diversity and composition of the oral microbiome among participants in the Buffalo Osteoporosis and Periodontal Disease (OsteoPerio) Study.

Methods: In 1,193 postmenopausal women (mean age 67±7.0), we estimated HEI scores for each woman from a food frequency questionnaire administered at study baseline (1997-2000). Bacterial DNA was extracted from baseline subgingival plaque samples and analyzed using 16S ribosomal DNA sequencing with the Illumina MiSeq platform. Alpha-diversity (within sample diversity) was assessed by observed operational taxonomic unit (OTU) counts (richness), Chao-1 Index (richness), and Shannon Index (richness and evenness). The least-square means of alpha-diversity and the relative abundance of 245 bacterial taxa across quartiles of HEI were examined using ANCOVA; association directionality was assessed using continuous HEI score. The beta-diversity (between sample diversity) was analyzed using PERMANOVA across HEI quartiles. Models were adjusted for age, race, education level, neighborhood socioeconomic status, physical activity, smoking, hormone therapy, antibiotic use, and dental hygiene.

Results: The sample has a mean HEI of 68.5 (±9.6). ANCOVA tests did not suggest a directional correlation between HEI and alpha-diversity indices (all p >0.05). Beta-diversity was not significantly different across HEI quartiles (p=0.7). Higher HEI quartiles showed a positive association with the abundance of Streptococcus gordonii, previously found to be associated with healthy periodontium in the OsteoPerio cohort, and a negative association with the abundance of Actinomyces naeslundii and Lautropia mirabilis, which were found to be associated with periodontal disease in the OsteoPerio cohort. These associations no longer remained after Bonferroni correction for multiple comparison.

Conclusions: HEI score was not cross-sectionally associated with alpha- or beta-diversity of the oral microbiome but was associated with the relative abundance of periodontal disease-related taxa before multiple testing correction.

Funding Sources: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, and the Department of Defense