The Microbiota of the Gut in Preschool Children With Normal and Excessive Body Weight

Karlsson, Caroline; Önnerfält, Jenny; Xu, Jie; Molin, Göran; Ahrné, Siv; Thorngren-Jerneck, Kristina

doi:10.1038/oby.2012.110

Cited by 467 publications

(381 citation statements)

References 36 publications

(46 reference statements)

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“…Childhood and adult obesity are accompanied by changes in the composition of the gut microbiota (Karlsson et al ., 2012; Bervoets et al ., 2013; Borgo et al ., 2016). In the present study we found alterations in gut microbiota composition and SCFA levels in a cohort of 42 obese and 36 normal‐weight Italian children.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pediatric obesity is associated with an altered gut microbiota and discordant shifts in Firmicutes populations

Riva

Borgo

Lassandro³

et al. 2016

Environmental Microbiology

327

201

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SummaryAn altered gut microbiota has been linked to obesity in adulthood, although little is known about childhood obesity. The aim of this study was to characterize the composition of the gut microbiota in obese (n = 42) and normal‐weight (n = 36) children aged 6 to 16. Using 16S rRNA gene‐targeted sequencing, we evaluated taxa with differential abundance according to age‐ and sex‐normalized body mass index (BMI z‐score). Obesity was associated with an altered gut microbiota characterized by elevated levels of Firmicutes and depleted levels of Bacteroidetes. Correlation network analysis revealed that the gut microbiota of obese children also had increased correlation density and clustering of operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Members of the Bacteroidetes were generally better predictors of BMI z‐score and obesity than Firmicutes, which was likely due to discordant responses of Firmicutes OTUs. In accordance with these observations, the main metabolites produced by gut bacteria, short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), were higher in obese children, suggesting elevated substrate utilisation. Multiple taxa were correlated with SCFA levels, reinforcing the tight link between the microbiota, SCFAs and obesity. Our results suggest that gut microbiota dysbiosis and elevated fermentation activity may be involved in the etiology of childhood obesity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pediatric obesity is associated with an altered gut microbiota and discordant shifts in Firmicutes populations

Riva

Borgo

Lassandro³

et al. 2016

Environmental Microbiology

327

201

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“…Akkermansia spp., a widely studied microorganism that is inversely associated with obesity 46,47 , was found to be more abundant in the cecum of the BFE group. Akkermansia has been reported to be a mucin degradation-specialized bacterium that utilizes mucus as a sole carbon and nitrogen source 48 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gut metagenomic analysis reveals prominent roles of Lactobacillus and cecal microbiota in chicken feed efficiency

Yan

Sun

Yuan

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

204

195

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Interactions between the host and gut microbiota can affect gut metabolism. In this study, the individual performances of 252 hens were recorded to evaluate feed efficiency. Hens with contrasting feed efficiencies (14 birds per group) were selected to investigate their duodenal, cecal and fecal microbial composition by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene V4 region. The results showed that the microbial community in the cecum was quite different from those in the duodenum and feces. The highest biodiversity and all differentially abundant taxa between the different efficiency groups were observed in the cecal microbial community with false discovery rate (FDR) <0.05. Of these differentially abundant cecal microbes, Lactobacillus accounted for a greater proportion than the others. The abundances of Lactobacillus and Akkermansia were significantly higher while that of Faecalibacterium was lower (FDR < 0.05) in the better feed efficiency (BFE) group. Phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states (PICRUSt) analysis revealed that the functions relating to glycometabolism and amino acid metabolism were enriched in the cecal microbiota of the BFE group. These results indicated the prominent role of cecal microbiota in the feed efficiency of chickens and suggested plausible uses of Lactobacillus to improve the feed efficiency of host.The gastrointestinal tract is the major site of food digestion and nutrient absorption. Cecum is the chief functional section in the distal intestine, and its importance in birds' metabolism has received increasing attention 1,2 . The cecum, which is full of microbial fermentations, plays important roles in preventing pathogen colonization, detoxifying harmful substances, recycling nitrogen and absorbing additional nutrients 3 . The digestibility and the ability to metabolize crude fiber or other nutrients are lower in birds with a cecectomy than in normal birds 4 . In addition, significant absorption of glucose was observed in the cecum 5 , and a higher ability to actively absorb sugars at low concentrations was found in the cecum compared with the jejunum 6 . Located at the beginning of the intestine, the duodenum is crucial for feed digestion and absorption; it has a lower pH than the hindgut and is the region that absorbs most glucose 7 and other nutrients within the small intestine 8,9 . Although the cecum and the duodenum themselves are important, interactions between the gut and commensal microbes may exert a significant influence on the function of the intestine. Previous studies showed that the digestion of uric acid, cellulose, starch and other resistant carbohydrates in the cecum was associated with the cecal microbial members 3,10,11 . In a recent study, numerous oligosaccharide-and polysaccharide-degrading enzyme-encoding genes and several pathways involved in the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were observed in the cecal metagenome of the chicken 12 . The SCFAs were produced mainly by microbial fermentation in the hindgut and could be a...

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“…Recently, a tendency towards decreased gut microbiota diversity in overweight/obese children assessed by q-PCR and T-RFLP was reported 66 . Using FISH, reduced numbers of bifidobacteria in infancy have also been shown to precede development of obesity 67 .…”

Section: West 13mentioning

confidence: 99%

The gut microbiota and inflammatory noncommunicable diseases: Associations and potentials for gut microbiota therapies

West

Renz²,

Jenmalm

et al. 2015

Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

222

165

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Rapid environmental transition and modern lifestyles are likely driving changes in the biodiversity of the human gut microbiota. With clear effects on physiologic, immunologic, and metabolic processes in human health, aberrations in the gut microbiome and intestinal homeostasis have the capacity for multisystem effects. Changes in microbial composition are implicated in the increasing propensity for a broad range of inflammatory diseases, such as allergic disease, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), obesity, and associated noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). There are also suggestive implications for neurodevelopment and mental health. These diverse multisystem influences have sparked interest in strategies that might favorably modulate the gut microbiota to reduce the risk of many NCDs. For example, specific prebiotics promote favorable intestinal colonization, and their fermented products have anti-inflammatory properties. Specific probiotics also have immunomodulatory and metabolic effects. However, when evaluated in clinical trials, the effects are variable, preliminary, or limited in magnitude. Fecal microbiota transplantation is another emerging therapy that regulates inflammation in experimental models. In human subjects it has been successfully used in cases of Clostridium difficile infection and IBD, although controlled trials are lacking for IBD. Here we discuss relationships between gut colonization and inflammatory NCDs and gut microbiota modulation strategies for their treatment and prevention

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The Microbiota of the Gut in Preschool Children With Normal and Excessive Body Weight

Cited by 467 publications

References 36 publications

Pediatric obesity is associated with an altered gut microbiota and discordant shifts in Firmicutes populations

Pediatric obesity is associated with an altered gut microbiota and discordant shifts in Firmicutes populations

Gut metagenomic analysis reveals prominent roles of Lactobacillus and cecal microbiota in chicken feed efficiency

The gut microbiota and inflammatory noncommunicable diseases: Associations and potentials for gut microbiota therapies

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