A Log Ratio-Based Analysis of Individual Changes in the Composition of the Oral Microbiota in Different Dietary Phases

Background: Investigating the influence of nutrition on oral health has a long scientific history. Due to recent technical advances like sequencing techniques for the oral microbiota, this topic has gained scientific interest again. A basic challenge is to understand the influence of nutrition on the oral microbiota and on the interaction between the oral bacteria, which is also statistically challenging. Methods: Log-transformed ratios of two bacteria concentrations are introduced as the basic analytic tool. The framework is illustrated by application in an experimental study exposing eleven participants to different nutrition schemes in five consecutive phases. Results: The method could be sufficiently used to analyse the interrelation between the bacteria and to identify some bacterial groups with the same as well as different reactions to additional dietary components. It was found that the strongest changes in bacterial concentrations were achieved by the additional consumption of dairy products. Conclusion: A log ratio-based analysis offers insights into the relation of different bacteria while taking specific features of compositional data into account. The presented methods allow becoming independent of the behaviour of other bacteria, which is a disadvantage of common analysis methods of compositions. The results indicate that modulations of the oral biofilm microbiota due to nutrition change can be attained.