Sodium nitrate and gastritis in mice
What it found
In mice, a high-nitrate diet caused stomach inflammation, changed stomach bacteria, and raised a metabolite called 5-HIAA.
The same bacterium and metabolite also caused inflammation in mice and human stomach cells.
What they found
Animal and lab studies
Stomach inflammation in mice
Mice on the high-nitrate diet developed gastritis, with more immune cells (macrophages and neutrophils) in the stomach lining and higher levels of inflammatory cytokine genes (IL-17a, Ccl20, Cxcl5, IL-6, and Ccl2). Their stomachs were bloated and heavier, and they ate less and lost weight after 2 weeks.
Stomach barrier damage
The high-nitrate diet reduced key tight junction proteins (ZO-1, E-cadherin, and claudin-1) in the stomach lining, suggesting the protective barrier was impaired. Stomach acid levels stayed the same (pH 5–6).
Bacterial changes
The diet shifted the stomach bacteria, increasing potential pathogens like Enterococcus gallinarum, Prevotella timonensis, and Mycobacterium gordonae, and decreasing beneficial bacteria like Roseburia hominis, Clostridium scindens, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. Lactobacillus increased to more than 75% of the total in the stomach lining.
Metabolite 5-HIAA rise
The high-nitrate diet raised levels of 5-HIAA, a metabolite from the tryptophan pathway, in the stomach. 5-HIAA was linked to the bacterial changes.
Studies in people and animals
Bacterium and metabolite cause inflammation
Giving mice E. gallinarum or 5-HIAA increased stomach inflammation in both conventional and germ-free mice. In human stomach cells (GES-1), 5-HIAA raised inflammatory cytokines (IL-17a, Cxcl5, and IL-6).
What the authors conclude
“NaD drives gastritis in mice by inducing gastric microbial dysbiosis and metabolomic dysregulation with elevated 5-HIAA.”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that a high-nitrate diet drives gastritis in mice by causing changes in stomach bacteria and metabolites, especially raising 5-HIAA.
- They say this work provides a framework linking nitrate intake to stomach disease through a host-microbe-metabolite axis.
How it was done
Dietary nitrate has been linked to a higher risk of stomach cancer, possibly by causing gastritis, but how it might do this was not known.
Mice were fed a diet with 7.5% sodium nitrate for 1 or 2 weeks and compared with mice on a normal diet. The researchers looked at stomach tissue, stomach bacteria, and metabolites, then tested a bacterium (E. gallinarum) and a metabolite (5-HIAA) in conventional and germ-free mice and in human stomach cells.
What it can’t tell you
- These are animal and cell studies. They can't show what happens in people eating typical amounts of nitrate.
- The mice were given a very high dose of nitrate (7.5% of the diet), far above normal human exposure, so the results may not apply to usual diets.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by Noncommunicable Chronic Diseases-National Science and Technology Major Project; National Natural Science Foundation of China; Strategic Seed Funding Collaboration Research Scheme CUHK; Strategic Impact Enhancement Fund CUHK; Impact Case for RAE CUHK (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- No potential conflicts of interest are disclosed.
- Authors work at
- The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China; Fourth Military Medical University, China
The paper
- Title
- Dietary nitrate drives gastritis by modulating gastric microbiota and metabolites
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people · animals · lab
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Jiang L, Li T, Wu J, et al (2026). Dietary nitrate drives gastritis by modulating gastric microbiota and metabolites. Cancer biology & medicine. doi:10.20892/j.issn.2095-3941.2025.0679Free full textPubMed 42046343DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error