Excess dietary zinc increases susceptibility to C difficile

Researchers found that mice given a high-zinc diet were more likely to experience Clostridium difficile infection at lower antibiotic doses.

Micrograph of Clostridium difficile bacteria
Clostridium difficile (pictured) was more likely to cause infections in mice given a high zinc diet, which also increased infection severity

Janice Carr / CDC

While Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is usually linked with antibiotic-related disruption to gut microbiota, cases of non-antibiotic associated CDI indicate that other factors can influence it. 

Since dietary metals are known to influence infection susceptibility, researchers exposed C. difficile- colonised mice to diets with three different levels of zinc for five weeks. 

They found that gut microbiota were significantly altered and showed decreased diversity in mice fed a diet containing excess zinc. No such change was observed in mice fed a diet with low or normal amounts of zinc. 

Mice given the high-zinc diet were also susceptible to CDI at lower antibiotic doses and experienced more severe disease than mice given less zinc. 

Reporting inNature Medicine (online, 26 September 2016)[1]
, the researchers suggest that limiting excess dietary zinc might therefore reduce the risk of CDI or morbidity in high-risk patients.

References

[1] Zackular J, Moore J, Jordan A et al. Dietary zinc alters the microbiota and decreases resistance to Clostridium difficile infection. Nature Medicine 2016. doi: 10.1038/nm.4174

Last updated
Citation
Clinical Pharmacist, CP, November 2016, Vol 8, No 11;8(11):DOI:10.1211/PJ.2016.20201780

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