Congratulations to PREP@UC Davis scholar Brayan, whose undergraduate work on the gut microbiome just appeared. Brayan and his colleagues studied the relationship between the consumption of soy and dairy products, and gut microflora in healthy equol (a bacterial metabolite implicated in increased incidence of breast cancer) and non-equol producing Puerto Rican women. Women in their study who consume soy and high amounts of dairy products had a less diverse microbiome, leading to increased production of equol.

Lacourt-Ventura, Mercedes Y., Brayan Vilanova-Cuevas, et al., and Michelle M. Martínez-Montemayor (2021). Soy and Frequent Dairy Consumption with Subsequent Equol Production Reveals Decreased Gut Health in a Cohort of Healthy Puerto Rican Women. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 16: 8254. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168254

Image caption: Microbiota diversity in equol-producers and non-producers; Figure 2C from Lacourt et al. 2021.