Alcohol consumption and the diversity of the oral microbiome in postmenopausal women

Alcohol reduces neutrophil function and decreases salivary flow, which could affect the composition of the oral microbiome. Researchers hypothesised that the α- and β-diversity of the oral microbiome and the relative abundance of bacterial taxa would differ by frequency and type of alcohol consumption. The study in published in The Journal of Nutrition.
A food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to assess the frequency of consumption of beer, wine, and liquor (drinks/week) in a sample of 1,179 postmenopausal women in the Osteoporosis and Periodontal Disease Study (OsteoPerio). Women were categorised as non-drinkers, drinking <1 drink/week, ≥1 to <7 drinks/week, or ≥7 drinks/week for total alcohol consumption and for beer, wine, and liquor consumption. The composition and diversity of the oral microbiome was assessed from subgingival plaque samples using 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) amplicon sequencing. β-diversity (between-sample diversity) in the microbiome between alcohol consumption categories was examined. ANCOVA was used to examine the mean α-diversity (within-sample diversity) and observed operational taxonomic unit (OTU) count, and the mean relative abundance of 245 bacterial taxa across alcohol consumption categories.
67% of the participants consumed alcohol, with 14% reporting ≥ 1 drink/day. The β-diversity across categories of total alcohol consumption, but not categories of alcohol type, was statistically significantly different. Mean α-diversity measures were statistically significantly higher in the highest category of total alcohol and wine consumption compared to non-drinkers; no significant associations were found for beer or liquor consumption. The relative abundance of 1 OTU, Selenomonas sp._oral_taxon_133, was significantly lower in the highest level of total alcohol consumption compared to non-drinkers after adjustment for multiple comparisons.
Alcohol consumption was associated with the diversity and composition of the subgingival microbiome, the authors conclude.
Source: Samantha J. Maley, Yihua Yue, Kaelyn F. Burns, Kathleen M. Hovey, Jean Wactawski-Wende, Jo L. Freudenheim, Daniel I. McSkimming, Michael J. LaMonte, Chris A. Andrews, Yijun Sun, Michael Buck, Amy E. Millen, Alcohol Consumption and the Diversity of the Oral Microbiome in Postmenopausal Women, The Journal of Nutrition, 2023, ISSN 0022-3166.