Association of the Gut Microbiota with Weight-Loss Response within a Retail Weight-Management Program.

Retail programs offer popular weight-loss options amid the ongoing obesity crisis. However, research on weight-loss outcomes within such programs is limited. This prospective-cohort observational study enrolled 58 men and women between ages 20 and 72 years from a retail program to assess the influence of client features on energy-restriction induced weight-loss response. DESeq2 in R-studio, a linear regression model adjusting for significantly correlating covariates, and Wilcoxon signed-rank and Kruskal-Wallis for within- and between-group differences, respectively, were used for data analyses. An average 10% (~10 kg) reduction in baseline-weight along with lower total-, android-, gynoid-, and android:gynoid-fat were observed at Week 12 (all, < 0.05). Fifty percent of participants experienced a higher response, losing an average of 14.5 kg compared to 5.9 kg in the remaining low-response group ( 0.0001). Hemoglobin-A1C ( = 0.005) and heart rate ( = 0.079) reduced in the high-response group only. Fat mass and A1C correlated when individuals had high android:gynoid fat ( = 0.55, = 0.008). Gut-microbial -diversity was associated with BMI, body fat%, and android-fat (all, < 0.05). Microbiota of the high-response group had a higher baseline OTU-richness ( = 0.02) as well as differential abundance and/or associations with , and (all, / < 0.005). These results show that intestinal microbiota as well as sex and body composition differences may contribute to variable weight-loss response. This highlights the importance of various client features in the context of real-world weight control efforts.