Richness of human gut microbiome correlates with metabolic markers

We are facing a global health crisis caused by an obesity epidemic. Scientists report the human gut microbial composition in a population sample of non-obese and obese individuals. The 2 groups differ in the number of gut microbial genes and thus gut bacterial richness. They contain known and previously unknown bacterial species at different proportions; individuals with a low bacterial richness (23% of the population) are characterized by more adiposity, insulin resistance, dyslipidaemia, and a more pronounced inflammatory phenotype when compared with high bacterial richness individuals. The obese individuals among the lower bacterial richness group also gain more weight over time. Only a few bacterial species are sufficient to distinguish between individuals with high and low bacterial richness, and even between lean and obese participants. Classifications based on variation in the gut microbiome identify subsets of individuals in the general population who may be at increased risk of progressing to adiposity-associated health problems.

Emmanuelle Le Chatelier, Trine Nielsen, Junjie Qin, Edi Prifti, Falk Hildebrand, Gwen Falony, Mathieu Almeida, Manimozhiyan Arumugam, Jean-Michel Batto,nSean Kennedy, Pierre Leonard,nJunhua Li,nKristoffer Burgdorf, Niels Grarup, Torben Jørgensen, Ivan Brandslund, Henrik Bjørn Nielsen, Agnieszka S. Juncker, Marcelo Bertalan, Florence Levenez, Nicolas Pons, Simon Rasmussen, Shinichi Sunagawa, Julien Tap, Sebastian Tims et al. Richness of human gut microbiome correlates with metabolic markers. Nature, 2013 DOI: 10.1038/nature12506

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