Probiotics and obesity

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http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/Obesity/32649

Lack of Gut Bugs Linked to Extra Pounds on Kids

By a Fiore, Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Published: May 12, 2012

Reviewed by Jasmer,

MD<http://www.medpagetoday.com/reviewer.cfm?reviewerid=55>; Associate Clinical

Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and Dorothy

Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner

Action Points

* This study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference.

These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until

published in a peer-reviewed journal.

* Having lower levels of a certain type of gut bacteria (Bacteroides)

that may be associated with eating too little protein could lead to obesity in

kids.

* Note that eating more protein was linked with higher levels of the B.

fragilis group of bacteria, but a lower proportion of the specific B.

fragilisbacteria linked with obesity.

Having lower levels of a certain type of gut bacteria, which may be associated

with eating too little protein, could lead to obesity in kids, researchers

found.

Low concentrations of Bacteroides fragilisgroup bacteria were linked with a

greater likelihood of being obese using two different methods of assessing the

bacteria (P=0.033 and P=0.013, respectively), Liene Bervoets, MD, of the

University of Hasselt in Belgium, and colleagues reported at the European

Congress on Obesity in Lyon, France.

Having a higher intake of protein was associated with a higher colonization of

B. fragilis bacteria, suggesting that " low concentrations of B. fragilis group

bacteria, together with a low protein intake during childhood, could lead to the

development of obesity, " Bervoets said in a statement.

Researchers have been increasingly interested in the role of gut microbes in

obesity. A 2006

study<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v444/n7122/abs/4441022a.html>by Ruth

Ley, PhD, of Cornell University (then with Washington University in St. Louis)

published inNature found that obese adults had lower levels of Bacteroides

species in their gut.

So to assess whether the composition of the gut microbiota is related to diet,

physical activity, and obesity in younger patients as well, Bervoets and

colleagues studied 26 obese children, ages 6 to 16, and compared them with 27

non-obese kids of the same age.

Stool samples were used to determine the composition of gut microbiota via two

methods: quantitative plating and quantitative real-time polymerase chain

reaction (PCR).

The children also completed dietary and physical activity surveys.

Both techniques revealed an overall negative association between body mass index

(BMI) and concentration of bacteria in the B. fragilis group, which also

includes B. thetaiotaomicron, B. caccae, and B. vulgatus, they reported.

They also found that obese children had different proportions of bacteria within

this group compared with normal-weight kids (P<0.05).

Heavier kids had a much higher percentage of the species that the group was

named for, B. fragilis(29.63% versus 8.67%), and B. thetaiotaomicron (19.74%

versus 10.59%), as well as a much lower percentage of B. vulgatus (10.65% versus

30.67%). B. vulgatus was associated with a lower likelihood of obesity, they

reported (P=0.033).

They added that BMI was also positively associated with the ratio of Firmicuites

to Bacteroides, the two most common microbe groups in the gut (P=0.006).

While there were no associations between gut microbes and levels of physical

activity, there was a link between gut bacteria and protein intake.

Eating more protein was linked with higher levels of the B. fragilis group of

bacteria (P=0.043), but a lower proportion of the specific B. fragilis bacteria

linked with obesity (P=0.032).

That means lower protein intake may be involed in the development of obesity via

its interactions with these bacteria, the researchers said.

" The therapeutic manipulation of our gut microbiota, through changing dietary

habits or administering prebiotics or probiotics at an early life-stage, may be

a useful strategy in the prevention of obesity, " Bervoets said in the statement.

While the findings from this study need to be confirmed in more trials, Bervoets

suggested that said existing guidelines on protein consumption may need to be

revised.

M. Nieuwdorp, MD, PhD, of the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, who has also

published on the link between gut microbiota and obesity and metabolism, told

MedPage Today that the study is small and he would like to see more information

on the specific plating and PCR techniques involved.

The researchers reported no conflicts of interest.

Primary source: European Congress on Obesity

Source reference:

Bervoets L, et al " Relationship between the gut microbiota, diet, physical

activity, and obesity in children " ECO2012; Abstract OSI1.3.

S. Kalman PhD, RD, FACN

Director, BD - Nutrition & Applied Clinical Trials

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