Association between the dietary index for gut microbiota and advanced cardiovascular‐kidney‐metabolic syndrome among United States adults: A cross‐sectional study

Abstract Background Traditional dietary measures, which reflect overall dietary health, provide limited insight into gut microbiota. We hypothesize that a higher dietary index for gut microbiota is associated with decreased incidence of advanced cardiovascular‐kidney‐metabolic syndrome and aim to investigate this association. Methods We analyzed data from the 2007 to 2020 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to conduct a cross‐sectional study of United States adults. The dietary index for gut microbiota was derived by quantifying and scoring 14 dietary components from the dietary recall interviews, while cardiovascular‐kidney‐metabolic syndrome was evaluated in accordance with the guidelines issued by the American Heart Association. The relationship between the dietary index for gut microbiota and advanced cardiovascular‐kidney‐metabolic syndrome was assessed using weighted logistic regression, restricted cubic splines, subgroup, and sensitivity analyses. Results A total of 14,406 cardiovascular‐kidney‐metabolic syndrome participants were included, with 9782 classified as non‐advanced and 4624 as advanced. After adjusting for potential covariates, both logistic regression and restricted cubic splines revealed a significant negative correlation between the dietary index for gut microbiota and advanced cardiovascular‐kidney‐metabolic syndrome, with an adjusted odds ratio of 0.57 (95% confidence interval: 0.50, 0.65) for the fourth quartile in comparison to the reference group, which was strengthened in individuals with higher education and non‐smokers (both P for interaction <0.05). Conclusions A higher dietary index for gut microbiota is associated with decreased incidence of advanced cardiovascular‐kidney‐metabolic syndrome. Additional prospective cohort studies are required to validate these findings.