There is emerging evidence that the gut microbiome composition is associated with several human health outcomes, which include cognitive performance. However, only a few prospective epidemiological studies exist and none among young adults. Here we address the gap in the literature by investigating whether the gut microbiome composition is prospectively linked to fluid intelligence among healthy young adults. Forty individuals (65% females, 26 years) from the DOrtmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) study provided a fecal sample for gut microbiome composition and subsequently (average of 166 days) completed a cognitive functioning test using the Cattell’s Culture Fair Intelligence Test, revised German version (CFT 20-R). The assessment of the gut microbiome at the genera level was by 16S rRNA V3-V4 Illumina sequencing. The relative abundance of 158 genera was summarized into bacterial communities using a novel data-driven dimension reduction, amalgamation. The fluid intelligence score was regressed on the relative abundance of the bacterial communities and adjusted for selected covariates. The 158 genera were amalgamated into 12 amalgams (bacterial communities), which were composed of 18, 6, 10, 14, 8, 10, 16, 13, 12, 12, 3, and 11 genera. Only the 14-genera bacterial community, named the “Ruminococcaceae- and Coriobacteriaceae-dominant community” was positively associated with fluid intelligence score (β = 7.8; 95% CI: 0.62, 15.65, P = 0.04). Among healthy young adults, the abundance of a gut bacterial community was associated with fluid intelligence score. This study suggests that cognitive performance may potentially benefit from gut microbiome-based intervention.

中文翻译：

---

一项关于健康年轻人肠道微生物组组成与认知能力之间关系的前瞻性调查

越来越多的证据表明，肠道微生物组的组成与多种人类健康结果有关，其中包括认知能力。然而，只有少数前瞻性流行病学研究存在，并且在年轻人中没有。在这里，我们通过调查肠道微生物组组成是否与健康年轻人的流体智力有前瞻性联系来解决文献中的空白。来自 DOrtmund 营养和人体测量纵向设计 (DONALD) 研究的 40 人（65% 女性，26 岁）提供了肠道微生物组组成的粪便样本，随后（平均 166 天）使用 Cattell 的文化公平智力测试完成了认知功能测试, 修订的德文版本 (CFT 20-R)。通过 16S rRNA V3-V4 Illumina 测序在属水平上评估肠道微生物组。使用一种新的数据驱动的降维方法，将 158 个属的相对丰度总结为细菌群落。流体智力评分根据细菌群落的相对丰度进行回归，并针对选定的协变量进行调整。158个属合并为12个混合物（细菌群落），由18、6、10、14、8、10、16、13、12、12、3和11个属组成。只有被命名为“瘤胃球菌科和球菌科优势群落”的 14 属细菌群落与流体智力评分呈正相关（β = 7.8；95% CI：0.62，15.65，P = 0.04）。在健康的年轻人中，肠道细菌群落的丰度与流体智力评分相关。