Wan Yi, Yuan Jihong, Li Jie, Li Hao, Yin Kanhua, Wang Fenglei, Li Duo
Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China; Department of Nutrition, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, 02115, USA.
No. 1 Department of Nutrition, Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing, 100000, China.
Clin Nutr. 2020 Oct;39(10):3189-3198. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2020.02.014. Epub 2020 Feb 15.
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Intestinal short-chain fatty acids have been demonstrated to modulate host energy metabolism and are elevated in overweight and obese individuals. We hypothesized that other intestinal energy products especially tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates might also related to overweight status. In addition, little information is available regarding to the potential relationship between gut microbiota and underweight status. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate whether gut microbiota and intestinal energy metabolites differ in underweight, normal weight, and overweight individuals, and their correlations with host cardiometabolic risk factors.
SUBJECTS/METHODS: Gut microbiome, intestinal energy metabolites, circulating cardiometabolic risk factors, and proinflammatory markers were determined in 29 underweight, 67 normal weight, and 67 overweight adults.
The fecal concentrations of succinic acid, fumaric acid, malic acid, propionic acid, and adipic acid were significantly increased in the overweight individuals in parallel with a higher relative abundance of Veillonellacea after adjusting for multiple comparisons (all p < 0.05). The intestinal concentration of TCA cycle intermediate succinic acid was positively associated with body weight (r = 0.28, p = 0.04), and malic acid were in positive association with circulating total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and interleukin-1β (all r > 0.25, p < 0.05). Compared with the normal weight individuals, the gut microbial α-diversity was lower in the overweight (p = 0.007 for Shannon index and p = 0.009 for Ace index) and underweight (p = 0.05 for Shannon index and p = 0.08 for Ace index) groups. However, no significant differences in the overall gut microbiota composition were observed among the three groups.
Our findings revealed that low gut microbiota diversity was associated with both overweight and underweight status. Intestinal TCA cycle intermediates were associated with overweight development and might be potential markers for future studies related to gut microbiota and host cardiometabolic health.
肠道短链脂肪酸已被证明可调节宿主能量代谢，且在超重和肥胖个体中含量升高。我们推测其他肠道能量产物，尤其是三羧酸（TCA）循环中间体，可能也与超重状态有关。此外，关于肠道微生物群与体重过轻状态之间的潜在关系，目前所知甚少。因此，本研究的目的是调查体重过轻、正常体重和超重个体的肠道微生物群和肠道能量代谢产物是否存在差异，以及它们与宿主心血管代谢危险因素的相关性。
受试者/方法：对29名体重过轻、67名正常体重和67名超重成年人的肠道微生物组、肠道能量代谢产物、循环心血管代谢危险因素和促炎标志物进行了测定。
校正多重比较后，超重个体粪便中琥珀酸、富马酸、苹果酸、丙酸和己二酸的浓度显著升高，同时韦荣球菌科的相对丰度也更高（所有p<0.05）。TCA循环中间体琥珀酸的肠道浓度与体重呈正相关（r = 0.28，p = 0.04），苹果酸与循环总胆固醇、低密度脂蛋白胆固醇和白细胞介素-1β呈正相关（所有r>0.25，p<0.05）。与正常体重个体相比，超重（香农指数p = 0.007，Ace指数p = 0.009）和体重过轻（香农指数p = 0.05，Ace指数p = 0.08）组的肠道微生物α多样性较低。然而，三组之间的总体肠道微生物群组成未观察到显著差异。
我们的研究结果表明，肠道微生物群多样性低与超重和体重过轻状态均有关。肠道TCA循环中间体与超重发展有关，可能是未来肠道微生物群与宿主心血管代谢健康相关研究的潜在标志物。
