A role for acetate in obesity

Abstract

Eating a high-fat diet certainly puts people at risk for obesity, but diet is not the only driver of corpulence. In recent years, scientists have also shown that the gut microbiome is also a culprit in weight gain. Working with rats and mice, researchers have now found that the unexpectedly modest molecule acetate is at the center of one mechanism by which gut microbes and high-fat diets work in concert to promote obesity (Nature 2016, DOI: 10.1038/nature18309). If the results hold true for humans, medical researchers may want to develop drugs that interfere with the acetate-based system to help people lose weight. In a suite of experiments, a team of researchers led by Yale University’s Gerald I. Shulman showed that the gut microbiome in rodents fed high-fat diets produces increased levels of acetate, which then leaves the digestive system and enters the bloodstream. When the acetate reaches the brain, it