Intestinal dysbiosis in obese and undernourished Mexican school‐age children

Abstract

In most developed countries, obesity is a major public nutritional problem. Mexico is at an advanced stage of the epidemiologic transition; like other Latin American countries, it bears a nutritional double burden composed of undernutrition and overweight or obesity 16.2% and 36.7% respectively). Previous studies have shown that gut microbiota has been associated with obesity and recently with undernutrition. The aim of this study was to describe and compare the richness and diversity in fecal microbiota in undernourished and obese Mexican school‐age children. We selected three groups according to BMI: 1) control (C); 2) undernutrition (UN) and 3) obese (OB) group. Anthropometric, dietetic and biochemical tests were performed. The V4 region of bacterial 16S rRNA gene was amplified by Illumina MiSeq. Waist circumference and body fat percentage were significantly higher in OB group and significantly lower in UN group compared to C group. Serum Glucose, cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and leptin concentrations were significant different between the groups. In regard to diet, energy consumption was increased in OB group compared to UN group. Carbohydrate consumption was increased in UN group compared to C and OB group. Fat consumption was increased in C and OB group compared to UN group. Alpha diversity indicates that C group has the most richness and diversity compared to UN and OB group. We observe an increase in Firmicutes and a decrease in Bacteroides in OB and UN groups compared to C group. Peptococcacea was increased in OB group compared to C group and was associated with meat and sugar consumption. Lachonspiracea was increased in UN group compared to C group and we observe a negative correlation between Lachonspiracea and energy consumption. Regarding the enterotypes, we observed a positive correlation between Enterotype 2 and beans consumption and Enterotype 1 with meat consumption. In conclusion, we observe an intestinal disbiosis between the phenotypes, reflected as a lower richness and diversity in school‐age children with obesity or undernutrition.Support or Funding InformationPAPIIT‐IN221014