Effect of dietary chickpea structures on the gut metabolome and microbiome: a randomised cross over trial
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Published version (article in press)
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The human gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is central to human physiology, yet our understanding of the metabolite, microbial, and hormonal spatiotemporal dynamics in humans is limited. How these environments respond to complex food structures and homeostatic mechanisms they generate is unknown in humans. In this randomised study, ten participants consumed chickpea-based meals with intact versus broken cellular structures, with sampling of oral, gastric, duodenal and ileal fluids. The primary outcome was the postprandial enteroendocrine hormone responses (GIP, GLP-1 and PYY); secondary outcomes were GIT metabolite profiles (1H NMR) and ileal microbiota (shotgun metagenomics). We observed that food structure markedly altered the spatiotemporal trajectories of metabolites and dominant microbe, driving distinct enteroendocrine hormone responses. Broken-cell meals produced early GIT glucose and maltose peaks associated with rapid GIP responses, whereas intact-cell meals elevated duodenal amino acids and ileal sugars, amino acids and formate, enhancing GLP-1 and PYY responses. Microbial profiles exhibited rapid spatial reorganisation, with evidence that oral bacterial strains transmitted to the ileum, where their abundance was associated with local metabolites and PYY responses. These findings identify food structure as a determinant of postprandial gastrointestinal metabolism and enteroendocrine responses and suggest an underappreciated route for oral bacteria to reach the ileum via the food bolus and impact metabolism. ISRCTN registration: ISRCTN18097249.
Date Issued
2026-09-15
Date Acceptance
2026-08-27
Citation
Nature Communications, 2026
ISSN
2041-1723
Publisher
Nature Portfolio
Journal / Book Title
Nature Communications
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2026 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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Publication Status
Published online
Date Publish Online
2026-09-15