Person:

Ma, Wenjie

Background: Novel interventions are needed to improve lifestyle and prevent noncommunicable diseases, the leading cause of death and disability globally. This study aimed to systematically review, synthesize, and grade scientific evidence on effectiveness of novel information and communication technology to reduce noncommunicable disease risk. Methods and Results: We systematically searched PubMed for studies evaluating the effect of Internet, mobile phone, personal sensors, or stand‐alone computer software on diet, physical activity, adiposity, tobacco, or alcohol use. We included all interventional and prospective observational studies conducted among generally healthy adults published between January 1990 and November 2013. American Heart Association criteria were used to evaluate and grade the strength of evidence. From 8654 abstracts, 224 relevant reports were identified. Internet and mobile interventions were most common. Internet interventions improved diet (N=20 studies) (Class IIa A), physical activity (N=33), adiposity (N=35), tobacco (N=22), and excess alcohol (N=47) (Class I A each). Mobile interventions improved physical activity (N=6) and adiposity (N=3) (Class I A each). Evidence limitations included relatively brief durations (generally <6 months, nearly always <1 year), heterogeneity in intervention content and intensity, and limited representation from middle/low‐income countries. Conclusions: Internet and mobile interventions improve important lifestyle behaviors up to 1 year. This systematic review supports the need for long‐term interventions to evaluate sustainability.

Few studies have formally tested the interaction between diet and the gut microbiome in the context of cardiometabolic health, particularly with the microbiome considered as a potential mediator rather than a target of dietary effects. Here, we investigated 307 male participants in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study who provided up to four stool samples each, yielding 925 shotgun metagenomes and 340 metatranscriptomes, long-term dietary information, and biomarkers of glucose homeostasis, lipid metabolism, and inflammation from blood samples. We demonstrate that a healthy Mediterranean-style dietary pattern is associated with functional and taxonomic components of the gut microbiome, and that its protective associations with cardiometabolic health vary, depending on microbial composition. In particular, the protective association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and cardiometabolic disease risk was significantly stronger among participants with decreased abundance of Prevotella copri. Our findings represent a step forward in the concept of precision nutrition and have the potential to inform more effective and precise dietary approaches for the prevention of cardiometabolic disease mediated through alterations in the gut microbiome.