Gut Bugs Differ in Obese and Lean Youth

An emerging area of science continues to be the gut frontier. Each of us has living within us more living bacterial organisms than we have our own cells making up our bodies. This ecosystem is largely symbiotic with us, meaning it provides benefits to us humans (as the host) and we provide benefits to these bacteria in the way of a habitat and a constant source of food.

Questions scientists of late are trying to answer include many of the following:

• How many different bacterial strands or types are there? 
• What different roles do the different types of bacteria play?
• Can we leverage the functions of some bacteria to benefit the host?

Certain bacteria are better able to metabolize food that makes it far enough down the digestive track and turn it into usable energy for the host that is absorbed in the large intestine (the colon). Scientists are currently trying to develop populations of these bacterial harvesters and duplicate them to assist impoverished populations that need to get as many calories from their available food sources.  Similarly, People are trying to figure out why bacterial populations differ between obese and lean populations, so that the bacterial profile of lean populations can be used to assist those who struggle with weight to have an easier time losing weight. And so on...this is a huge frontier for science that has keys to helping improve immune health, improve metabolic health, improved bowel health and GI cancer rate, perhaps even energy. 

A recent study from the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism has shown that the connection between gut bacteria (microbiota) populations and the distribution of fat tissue among children teenage populations. This is the first study that I know of to clearly see this. 

"Our findings show children and teenagers with obesity have a different composition of gut flora than lean youth," said the study's senior author, Nicola Santoro, MD, PhD, Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Pediatrics at Yale University in New Haven, CT. "This suggests that targeted modifications to the specific species composing the human microbiota could be developed and could help to prevent or treat early-onset obesity in the future."

The study examined gut microbiota and weight in 84 children and teenagers who were between 7 and 20 years old. The participants included 27 youth who were obese, 35 who were severely obese, seven who were overweight and 15 who were normal weight. Researchers analyzed the participants' gut microbiota. The participants underwent an MRI to measure body fat partitioning, provided blood samples and kept a three-day food diary.

The findings showed an increase in short chain fatty acids circulating in the blood. Short chain fatty acids are something that bacteria can convert undigested food into, then your colon cells absorb them and your blood sends it to other areas in the body, most importantly here, the liver. In the liver these short chain fatty acids can accumulate and be converted to adipose tissue.

There are many questions a study like this brings up, however as a Dietitian, I find this research exciting and compelling that in the years to come we may have additional helps to combat obesity. 

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Study Information: ​Endocrine Society. "Gut bacteria differ between obese, lean youth." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 20 September 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160920130825.htm>.