Correlation between body mass index and gut concentrations of Lactobacillus reuteri, Bifidobacterium animalis, Methanobrevibacter smithii and Escherichia coli - PubMed (original) (raw)

Comparative Study

. 2013 Nov;37(11):1460-6.

doi: 10.1038/ijo.2013.20. Epub 2013 Mar 5.

Affiliations

Free PMC article

Comparative Study

Correlation between body mass index and gut concentrations of Lactobacillus reuteri, Bifidobacterium animalis, Methanobrevibacter smithii and Escherichia coli

M Million et al. Int J Obes (Lond). 2013 Nov.

Free PMC article

Retraction in

Abstract

Background: Genus and species level analysis is the best way to characterize alterations in the human gut microbiota that are associated with obesity, because the clustering of obese and lean microbiotas increases with the taxonomic depth of the analysis. Bifidobacterium genus members have been associated with a lean status, whereas different Lactobacillus species are associated both with a lean and an obese status.

Objectives and methods: We analyzed the fecal concentrations of Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Methanobrevibacter smithii, the genus Lactobacillus, five other Lactobacillus species previously linked with lean or obese populations, Escherichia coli and Bifidobacterium animalis in 263 individuals, including 134 obese, 38 overweight, 76 lean and 15 anorexic subjects to test for the correlation between bacterial concentration and body mass index (BMI). Of these subjects, 137 were used in our previous study.

Findings: Firmicutes were found in >98.5%, Bacteroidetes in 67%, M. smithii in 64%, E. coli in 51%, Lactobacillus species between 17 and 25% and B. animalis in 11% of individuals. The fecal concentration of Lactobacillus reuteri was positively correlated with BMI (coefficient=0.85; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.12-0.58; P=0.02) in agreement with what was reported for Lactobacillus sakei. As reported, B. animalis (coefficient=-0.84; 95% CI -1.61 to -0.07; P=0.03) and M. smithii (coefficient=-0.43, 95% CI -0.90 to 0.05; P=0.08) were negatively associated with the BMI. Unexpectedly, E. coli was found here for the first time to negatively correlate with the BMI (coefficient=-1.05; 95% CI -1.60 to -0.50; P<0.001).

Conclusion: Our findings confirm the specificity of the obese microbiota and emphasize the correlation between the concentration of certain Lactobacillus species and obesity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Primary component analysis associating the gut microbial phylum and species to the BMI. Principal component analysis, including (a) BMI and phylum or (b) species found in the gut microbiota (Lactobacillus acidophilus was not included because it was not found by our quantitative PCR system). The preliminary analyses shown in this figure were performed on the whole population.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Scatter plots at the phylum and genus levels. Methanobrevibacter smithii is considered to be the leading representative of the Euryarchaeota phylum. *P<0.05, **P<0.005. The medians and the interquartile ranges are shown.

Figure 3

Figure 3

Scatter plots at the species level. *P<0.05, **P<0.005. The medians and the interquartile ranges are shown.

Figure 4

Figure 4

Correlation between the BMI and specific bacterial clades. Plots represent analyses performed only on the carriers for each bacterial clade studied. Spearman correlation test: _Methanobrevibacter smithii r_=−0.20, _P_=0.01. _Lactobacillus reuteri r_=0.44, _P_=0.004. No correlation was found in the patients positive for E. coli (_P_=0.80) or Bifidobacterium animalis (_P_=0.99).

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. WHO Expert Consultation Appropriate body-mass index for Asian populations and its implications for policy and intervention strategies. Lancet. 2004;363:157–163. - PubMed
    1. Whitlock G, Lewington S, Sherliker P, Clarke R, Emberson J, Halsey J, et al. Body-mass index and cause-specific mortality in 900 000 adults: collaborative analyses of 57 prospective studies. Lancet. 2009;373:1083–1096. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yanovski SZ, Yanovski JA. Obesity. N Engl J Med. 2002;346:591–602. - PubMed
    1. Arumugam M, Raes J, Pelletier E, Le Paslier D, Yamada T, Mende DR, et al. Enterotypes of the human gut microbiome. Nature. 2011;473:174–180. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ley RE, Turnbaugh PJ, Klein S, Gordon JI. Microbial ecology: human gut microbes associated with obesity. Nature. 2006;444:1022–1023. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources