Effect of dietary chickpea structures on the small intestine metabolome and microbiome: a randomised crossover trial

Nadia Fernandes; Mingzhu Cai; Frederick J. Warren; Anthony Duncan; Hannah Harris; Jose Ivan Serrano Contreras; Katarzyna Sidorczuk; Andres Bernal; Andres Castillo; Katerina Petropoulou; Dominic Blunt; Natalia Perez-Moral; Isabel Garcia-Perez; Cathrina Edwards; Falk Hildebrand; Elaine Holmes; Julien Wist; Gary Frost

doi:10.1038/s41467-026-77714-7

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Effect of dietary chickpea structures on the small intestine metabolome and microbiome: a randomised crossover trial

Journal article

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Effect of dietary chickpea structures on the small intestine metabolome and microbiome: a randomised crossover trial

Nadia Fernandes, Mingzhu Cai, Frederick J. Warren, Anthony Duncan, Hannah Harris, Jose Ivan Serrano Contreras, Katarzyna Sidorczuk, Andres Bernal, Andres Castillo, Katerina Petropoulou, …

Nature communications

2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77714-7

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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 ( 1 H 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.

Details

Title: Effect of dietary chickpea structures on the small intestine metabolome and microbiome: a randomised crossover trial
Authors/Creators: Nadia Fernandes - University of Oxford
Mingzhu Cai - Imperial College London
Frederick J. Warren - Quadram Institute
Anthony Duncan - Quadram Institute
Hannah Harris - Quadram Institute
Jose Ivan Serrano Contreras
Katarzyna Sidorczuk - Quadram Institute
Andres Bernal - Murdoch University
Andres Castillo - Murdoch University
Katerina Petropoulou - Imperial College London
Dominic Blunt - Charing Cross Hospital
Natalia Perez-Moral - Quadram Institute
Isabel Garcia-Perez - Imperial College London
Cathrina Edwards - Quadram Institute
Falk Hildebrand - University of East Anglia
Elaine Holmes - Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Julien Wist - Murdoch University
Gary Frost - Imperial College London
Publication Details: Nature communications
Publisher: Springer Nature
Identifiers: 991005919712507891
Murdoch Affiliation: Centre for Computational and Systems Medicine
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

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