Relation of Lactobacilli acidophilus to Obesity in Egyptian Population

Abstract

Abstract Background Current considerations are existed about the sharing role of gut microbiota in the enhancement of obesity and its allied comorbidities Objective The aim of this observational case-control study was to assess the possible relation of lactobacilli acidophilus to obesity in a sample of Egyptian population by realtime PCR of lactobacilli acidophilus in stool. Subjects and methods The present study enrolled 20 healthy slim subjects and 40 subjects who had BMI >25 kg/m2. Routine laboratory analysis and identification of stool Lactobacillus acidophilus by quantitative real time PCR technique was performed for all enrolled subjects. Results Lactobacillus acidophilus was expressed in 21 out of 40 (52.5%) faecal samples of obese cases and 16 out of 20 (80%) of faecal samples of non-obese cases. In rest of samples in both studied groups, the expression was below the detection limit. The results showed that the mean CT at which Lactobacilli were expressed in the obese cases was (38.89±2.57) compared to (36.08±4.63) in non-obese cases and this indicated that the expression of lactobacilli was statistically higher in non-obese subjects compared to obese cases (P = 0.04). Conclusion Lactobacillus acidophilus was significantly lowered in obese Egyptian patients. The argument about the significance of correlation between imbalance in gut microbiota and obesity is considered one of the hottest open topics in medicine.