Herbivore and carnivore microbial signatures indicate diet and health variation in human gut microbiota

The Herbivore-Carnivore (HC) index places human gut microbiota between herbivores and carnivores, with urbanized humans shifting toward carnivore-leaning profiles.

• Why it matters: It is unclear how omnivorous human diet maps onto mammalian diet-linked microbial patterns and whether individual differences along this spectrum relate to health.
• What they did: The authors built an HC-index from bacterial groups characteristic of herbivory versus carnivory using 858 gut microbiota samples from 109 mammalian species, then applied it to >72,000 participants across multiple worldwide cohorts.
• The result: Higher HC-index values in participants are linked to plant-based, fiber-rich diets, greater microbial diversity, increased potential to degrade plant-derived carbohydrates, favorable clinical measures, and lower prevalence of self-reported disease.

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