'Mediterranean diet improves gut microbe diversity, cuts hospitalisation'

A Mediterranean-style diet, rich in vegetables and fermented milk products such as yoghurt, is associated with a greater gut microbial diversity and a lower risk of hospitalisation in patients with liver cirrhosis, a study claims.

The study by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University in the US enrolled almost 300 individuals in the US and Turkey.

It showed that the entire Turkish cohort, including healthy individuals as well as those with cirrhosis, had a significantly higher microbial diversity than their counterparts in the US.

Liver cirrhosis is a major, growing and largely preventable cause of death worldwide, accounting for more than one million deaths globally per year, researchers said.

The risk of death from liver cirrhosis differs markedly between countries, driven primarily by alcohol consumption, the type and quality of alcohol consumed, and the presence of viral hepatitis B and C infections.

Gut microbiota have been implicated in the pathogenesis and progression of cirrhosis, and a progressive decrease in microbial diversity is observed in healthy individuals, those with compensated cirrhosis, and those with decompensated disease.

Patients with compensated cirrhosis do not have symptoms related to the disease, whereas those with decompensated cirrhosis have symptomatic complications