Association of oral microbiota profile with sugar-sweetened beverages consumption in school-aged children

Abstract

Evidence that common beverage consumption is associated with oral ecosystem. However, little is known about the effect of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) on composition and functional potential of childhood oral microbiota. We aim to examine associations between SSBs consumption with oral microbiota diversity and function among school-aged children. Oral microbiota in buccal swab samples was collected from 180 children (11.3 ± 0.6 years) from an ongoing child growth and development cohort established in 2016, using 16S rDNA gene sequencing. Higher SSBs consumption (≥1 serving/day) was associated with lower oral microbiota richness and diversity. Children with higher SSBs consumption showed decreased abundance of genus Fusobacterium, Lachnoanaerobaculum, Soonwooa, Tannerella and Moraxella (p < 0.05). However, more SSBs intake selectively increases the dominance of aciduric bacteria (Neisseria and Streptococcus), which can lead to dental caries and other oral problems. Furthermore, PICRUSt analysis illustrated that oral microbiota was more conducive to the pathway activated of protein export (p = 0.020), D-glutamine and D-glutamate metabolism (p = 0.013), and pantothenate and CoA biosynthesis (p = 0.004), indicating vigorous microbial metabolism in oral bacterial community in higher SSBs intake groups. Overall, our finding suggests that higher SSBs consumption may disturb oral microecology and reduce diversity of microbiota during childhood, stimulating an increase in cariogenic genera, which contributes to increased susceptibility of SSBs-related oral diseases.

Keywords:

• Sugar-sweetened beverages
• oral microbiota
• children

Author contributions

S.Y. and W.Y.Y. conceptualised and designed this study. Acquisition of data: C.X., F.J., H.X.Y., S.X.Y., Z.F.F. and S.Y. analysed and interpreted the data. C.X., S.Y. and W.Y.Y. revised manuscript for intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant [number 81872638], Key Project of Education Bureau of Anhui Province under Grant [number KJ2019A0252] and Scientific Research Projects of Anhui Medical University [number 2020xkj145].