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. 2018 Nov;26(11):1767-1776.
doi: 10.1002/oby.22320. Epub 2018 Oct 8.

Gut Microbiota and Body Weight in School-Aged Children: The KOALA Birth Cohort Study

Catherine A Mbakwa  1   2 , Gerben D A Hermes  1   3 , John Penders  4 , Paul H M Savelkoul  4   5 , Carel Thijs  2 , Pieter C Dagnelie  2   6 , Monique Mommers  2 , Erwin G Zoetendal  1   3 , Hauke Smidt  3 , Ilja C W Arts  2   6   7
Affiliations

Gut Microbiota and Body Weight in School-Aged Children: The KOALA Birth Cohort Study

Catherine A Mbakwa et al. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2018 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to examine the intestinal microbiota composition of school-aged children in association with (over)weight.

Methods: The fecal microbiota composition of 295 children was analyzed using the Human Intestinal Tract Chip. Anthropometric outcomes (overweight [BMI ≥ 85th percentile], age- and sex-standardized BMI and weight z scores) were measured at 6 to 7 years of age, and elastic net was used to select genus-like bacterial groups related to all anthropometric outcomes. Subsequently, multiple linear and logistic regression models were used to model associations between selected bacterial groups and anthropometric measures while controlling for confounders.

Results: Prevotella melaninogenica, Prevotella oralis, Dialister, and uncultured Clostridiales II (UCII) accounted for 26.1% of the variation in microbiota composition. Several bacterial groups were inversely associated with the anthropometric outcomes: Sutterella wadsworthensis, Marvinbryantia formatexigens, Prevotella melanogenica, P oralis, Burkholderia, uncultured Clostridiales II, and Akkermansia, while Streptococcus bovis was positively associated with overweight. Microbial diversity and richness, and Bacteroidetes to Firmicutes ratio, were not significantly associated with any of the outcomes.

Conclusions: In the largest population-based study on childhood gut microbiota and body weight so far, both new and previously identified bacterial groups were found to be associated with overweight. Further research should elucidate their role in energy metabolism.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Box plots representing the relative abundance of the 21 most abundant taxa (mean abundance > 1%).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Abundance of bimodal taxa shape overall composition. RDA visualizing microbiota composition of all fecal samples (n = 295) colored by high (black dots) and low (grey dots) abundance of Dialister (left panel) and Prevotella melaninogenica (right panel). Individuals with overweight are represented as squares. The direction of the arrows depicts the abundance of the bimodal bacterial groups as well as their co‐correlating groups. Length of the arrows is a measure of fit for the species. Redundancy analysis (RDA) displays and explains the variation explained in the microbiota, constrained by the predictor variables (bimodal taxa).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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