Pre-treatment microbial Prevotella-to-Bacteroides ratio, determines body fat loss success during a 6-month randomized controlled diet intervention

• Published in: International Journal of Obesity Vol. 42; no. 3; pp. 580 - 583
• Main Authors: Hjorth, M F, Roager, H M, Larsen, T M, Poulsen, S K, Licht, T R, Bahl, M I, Zohar, Y, Astrup, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.03.2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 45; 45/77; 631/326/41; 692/308/2779/777; Abundance; Adult; Bacteroides; Bacteroides - physiology; Body fat; Chi-Square Distribution; Confidence intervals; Diet; Epidemiology; Feces - microbiology; Female; Gastrointestinal Microbiome - physiology; Grain; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; High fat diet; Humans; Internal Medicine; Intestinal microflora; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Microbiota; Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms); Microorganisms; Middle Aged; Nutrition; Obesity; Overweight - diet therapy; Overweight - epidemiology; Pretreatment; Prevotella - physiology; Prognosis; Public Health; Relative abundance; Risk factors; Short Communication; Treatment Outcome; Waist Circumference; Weight Loss - physiology
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497; 1476-5497
• DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2017.220

On the basis of the abundance of specific bacterial genera, the human gut microbiota can be divided into two relatively stable groups that might have a role in personalized nutrition. We studied these simplified enterotypes as prognostic markers for successful body fat loss on two different diets. A total of 62 participants with increased waist circumference were randomly assigned to receive an ad libitum New Nordic Diet (NND) high in fiber/whole grain or an Average Danish Diet for 26 weeks. Participants were grouped into two discrete enterotypes by their relative abundance of Prevotella spp. divided by Bacteroides spp. ( P/B ratio) obtained by quantitative PCR analysis. Modifications of dietary effects of pre-treatment P/B group were examined by linear mixed models. Among individuals with high P/B the NND resulted in a 3.15 kg (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.55; 4.76, P <0.001) larger body fat loss compared with ADD, whereas no differences was observed among individuals with low P/B (0.88 kg (95% CI: −0.61; 2.37, P =0.25)). Consequently, a 2.27 kg (95% CI: 0.09; 4.45, P =0.041) difference in responsiveness to the diets were found between the two groups. In summary, subjects with high P/B ratio appeared more susceptible to lose body fat on diets high in fiber and whole grain than subjects with a low P/B ratio.