Association between Dietary Live Microbe Intake and Periodontitis in Adults: Evidence from NHANES

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between the consumption of live microbes in the diet and adult periodontitis.
Materials and Methods: Utilising data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) spanning 1999–2004 and 2009–2014, 16,600 adults who underwent 24-h face-to-face dietary recall and oral health examinations were identified. Dietary live microbe intake was categorised into low, medium, and high levels. To examine the relationship between different levels of dietary live microbe intake and periodontitis, we employed logistic regression, subgroup and restricted cubic spline models.
Results: Upon comprehensive covariate adjustment, low dietary live microbe intake (104 CFU/g) demonstrated a positive association with periodontitis prevalence, while medium intake (104 to 107 CFU/g) showed a negative association. Conversely, no significant associations were observed between high dietary live microbe intake (>107 CFU/g) and periodontitis. Restricted cubic spline analysis confirmed a linear association between low dietary live microbe intake. Moreover, a U-shaped dose–response relationship was identified between medium dietary live microbe intake and periodontitis prevalence.
Conclusions: Moderate intake of medium live microbe food may be more conducive to avoiding the occurrence of periodontitis. Keywords: adult, dietary live microbe, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, NHANES, periodontitis