Diet, adiposity, and the gut microbiota from infancy to adolescence: A systematic review

Abstract

Early life gut microbiota are affected by several factors that make identification of microbial-adiposity relationships challenging. This review evaluates studies that have investigated the gut microbiota composition associated with adiposity in infants, children, and adolescents and provides evidence-based nutrition recommendations that address microbiota-adiposity links. Electronic databases were systematically searched through January 2020. Eligible studies were published in English and analyzed gut microbiota and adiposity among individuals aged birth to 18 years. Abstracts and full-text articles were reviewed by three independent reviewers. Of 45 full-text articles reviewed, 33 were included. No difference in abundance was found for Bacteroidetes (n = 7/15 articles), Firmicutes (n = 10/17), Actinobacteria (n = 8/12), Proteobacteria (n = 8/12), Tenericutes (n = 4/5), and Verrucomicrobia (n = 4/6) with adiposity. Lower abundance of Christensenellaceae (n = 3/5) and Rikenellaceae (n = 6/8) but higher abundance of F. prausnitzii (n = 3/5) and Prevotella (n = 5/7) were associated with adiposity. A lack of consensus exists for gut microbial composition associations with adiposity. A healthy gut microbiota is associated with a diet rich in fruits and vegetables with moderate consumption of animal fat and protein. Future research should use more robust sequencing technologies to identify all bacterial taxa associated with adiposity and evaluate how diet effects these adiposity-associated microbes.

Keywords: adiposity; adolescence; childhood; gut microbiota.

Figure 1.

PRISMA Flow Diagram

Figure 2.

Percent agreement of microbial associations with adiposity outcomes among the articles included in the current review by specific microbe for (A) entire cohort regardless of age group, (B) infants and toddlers, (C) school-aged children, and (D) adolescents. Black indicates no association/difference, dark gray indicates a significantly lower abundance or negative association, and light gray indicates significantly higher abundance or positive association. Microbial names are indented to show related taxa at lower taxonomic levels. Bolded microbial names are phyla-level bacteria. Percentage next to microbial name indicates the percent of the included articles that reported this specific microbe. Panel A: Only microbes that were reported in five or more of the included articles. Panels B-D: Only microbes reported in two or more of the included articles for the indicated developmental period.