Peters BA, et al. - Authors evaluated the relationships of coffee and tea consumption with the oral ecosystem in a large cross-sectional study. Compared to non-drinkers, the microbiota of tea drinkers differed in several ways, in the largest study to date of tea and coffee consumption in relation to the oral microbiota. Experts noted a probable contribution of the tea-driven changes to the oral microbiome to previously observed associations between tea and oral and systemic diseases, including cancers.

Methods

• Researchers assessed oral microbiota in mouthwash samples from 938 participants in 2 U.S. cohorts using 16S rRNA gene sequencing.
• They assessed the coffee and tea intake from food frequency questionnaires.
• They examined the relationships of coffee and tea intake with overall oral microbiota diversity and composition using linear regression and permutational MANOVA, respectively, and with taxon abundance using negative binomial generalized linear models; all models adjusted for age, sex, cohort, BMI, smoking, ethanol intake, and energy intake.

Results

• As per data, higher tea intake was related to greater oral microbiota richness (P=0.05) and diversity (P=0.006), and shifts in overall community composition (P=0.002); coffee was not associated with these microbiome parameters.
• Results demonstrated that tea intake was related to the altered abundance of several oral taxa; these included Fusobacteriales, Clostridiales, and Shuttleworthia satelles (higher with increasing tea) and Bifidobacteriaceae, Bergeyella, Lactobacillales, and Kingella oralis (lower with increasing tea).
• Authors noted the association of higher coffee intake only with greater abundance of Granulicatella and Synergistetes.