Dietary Creatine Intake and Measures of Oral Microbiota Diversity
Bogdan Andjelic, Sergej OstojicIntroduction:
Dietary creatine reflects animal-based food intake and broader dietary patterns that may influence oral microbial ecology, yet its relationship with oral microbiota diversity remains unclear.
Methods:
We analyzed data from 3,816 adults participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2009–2012 with available oral microbiota and dietary data. Dietary creatine intake was estimated from 24-hour recalls. Associations with oral microbiota alpha diversity, beta diversity, and genus-level abundance were examined using survey-weighted multivariable models adjusting for demographic and dietary covariates.
Results:
Dietary creatine intake was not independently associated with alpha diversity metrics, including phylogenetic diversity, richness, or evenness (all P > 0.05), and showed no association with genus-level abundance after multiple testing correction. Creatine intake was associated with statistically detectable but minimal differences in beta diversity (pseudo-R² = 0.0016).
Discussion:
In this nationally representative analysis of U.S. adults, dietary creatine intake was not independently associated with oral microbiota diversity or composition after adjustment for demographic and dietary factors. The attenuation of modest unadjusted associations suggests that dietary creatine primarily reflects broader dietary patterns rather than acting as an independent determinant of oral microbial ecology.
Conclusions:
Dietary creatine intake does not meaningfully influence oral microbiota diversity or composition in U.S. adults and appears to reflect broader dietary patterns rather than exerting independent microbial effects.