Abstract
Obesity has been associated with changes in the gut microbiota and its metabolites. The study explored changes in the faecal microbiota and short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) associated with the diet (including nonnutritive sweeteners (NNSs)) and evaluated metabolic consequences in subjects with morbid obesity. The diet was assessed with a validated food frequency questionnaire. One unit of NNSs was 100 mL beverage with NNSs or 2 tablets/teaspoons of NNSs. The faecal microbiota was assessed with GA-map® dysbiosis test and SCFA with gas chromatography and flame ionisation detection. Fourteen men and 75 women with a mean age of 44.6 (SD 8.7) years, BMI 41.8 (SD 3.6) kg/m2, and intake of NNSs 7.5 units/day (SD 3.2; range 0–43) were included. Faecal butyric acid was positively and negatively associated with the intake of starch (partial correlation = 0.264; p=0.015) and NNSs (partial correlation = −0.274; p=0.011), respectively. NNSs were associated with changes in four out of 39 bacterial groups. Butyric acid has antiobesogenic effects, reduces insulin resistance, and improves dyslipidaemia. Since the weight-reducing effect of NNSs on obese adults trying to lose weight is dubious, it seems imprudent to use NNSs that might counteract the favourable effects of butyric acid.
Highlights
Obesity, which has nearly tripled worldwide since 1975, has health-related consequences such as increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome with diabetes type 2, musculoskeletal disorders, and cancer [1,2,3]. e high and increasing prevalence of obesity, estimated to 13% of the world population and mentioned as the global obesity epidemic [4], has been linked to alterations in the diet with increased intake of high fat, energy-dense food, and reduced physical activity [1]. e dietary alterations affect the gut microbiota and the microbiota’s metabolites (e.g., straight and branched short-chain fatty acids, referred to as short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) in this paper) [5]
Eighty-nine out of 350 consecutive subjects with morbid obesity in the period from December 2012 to September 2014 were included in the study
nonnutritive sweeteners (NNSs) were negatively associated with butyric acid and valeric acid
Summary
Obesity, which has nearly tripled worldwide since 1975, has health-related consequences such as increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome with diabetes type 2, musculoskeletal disorders, and cancer [1,2,3]. e high and increasing prevalence of obesity, estimated to 13% of the world population and mentioned as the global obesity epidemic [4], has been linked to alterations in the diet with increased intake of high fat, energy-dense food, and reduced physical activity [1]. e dietary alterations affect the gut microbiota (induce dysbiosis) and the microbiota’s metabolites (e.g., straight and branched short-chain fatty acids, referred to as short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) in this paper) [5]. Propionic and butyric acids have been ascribed antiobesogenic effects, and a high Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio has been associated with obesity [10,11,12,13,14,15,16]. These changes have been observed in both animals and humans, a causal role of the gut microbiome in the pathogenesis of obesity has not yet been proven in humans [6, 17]. A secondary aim was to study direct and indirect effects (mediated via the faecal microbiota) of NNSs on SCFA
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