Objective
To explore the associations between plain drinking water sources (bottled, tap, filtered, or well water) and gut microbiota compositions in a large microbiota-based cohort, examining the impact of drinking water on fecal microbiota structure.
Conclusions
The type of drinking water significantly influences fecal microbiota composition, with drinking water source ranking among the key contributing factors explaining gut microbiota variation. Subjects consuming different water sources exhibit distinct gut microbiota signatures, indicating that drinking water may play an important role in shaping the gut microbiome. Future research should consider drinking water source as a covariate in analyses investigating the gut microbiota in relation to environmental factors.
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