Using Gut Microbiome as A Tool in Dietary Intervention for Prevention and Management of Obesity

Abstract

The gut microbiome has trillions of bacteria which play an important role in human health and disease. Several animal and human studies have shown that dysbiosis, microbial imbalance as the causative factor in obesity and metabolic syndrome. Significant research evidence demonstrates that changes in the proportion of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes has been associated with obesity, but this has been recently challenged. Similar studies were carried out in several populations, however, there are no such studies, to date, among Asian Indians. We aimed to examine the usefulness of gut microbiome testing in developing personalized diet for managing obesity. In this study, we selected individuals, generally healthy, free- living adults, both men and women with BMI 25- 40 kg/m2 and with previous history of failures at weight loss who visited a Weight Loss Clinic, based in Coimbatore, India & were offered a gut microbiome test. We included 54 individuals in the intervention group who received personalized dietary advice for weight loss based on the gut microbiome test and another set of 52 individuals visiting the same clinic were included in the comparison group based on their age, height, weight and BMI who received generic diet. A statistically significant increase in the Bacteroidetes genus was observed in the personalized nutrition group (p = .04). The change (delta) values in gut microbiome composition in personalized nutrition group were significantly higher at the end of 120 days. Gut microbiome-based personalized microbiome modulation through diet significantly improves gut microbiome profiles among obese individuals.  We would further need studies with larger sample size to validate these study findings and long-term follow-up are needed.