A study published in Gut Microbes, in which a team led by Assoc. Prof. Cahová from IKEM participated, compared the multi-omic profiles of vegans and omnivores from two distinct European populations (the Czech Republic and Italy). Despite significant differences in local dietary traditions, a consistent “vegan signature” was identified at the level of lipidoins, the metabolome, and the gut microbiome, validated in an independent cohort.

A vegan diet is associated with lower levels of lipid classes linked to cardiovascular risk (sphingomyelins, ceramides), a more favorable serum amino acid profile, and an enrichment of the microbiota with taxa correlated with better cardiometabolic markers. Furthermore, some of these changes increased with the duration of vegan diet adherence.

The study shows that diet-induced changes in the microbiome and metabolome are not a local phenomenon but reflect a more universal biological response to the absence of animal products. The multi-omic approach allows these relationships to be captured with high predictive accuracy.

🔗 The full article is available here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19490976.2025.2593050

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