Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 18, 2026
Murine Fecal Isolation and Microbiota Transplantation
Published on: May 26, 2023
Body size phenotypes comprehensively assess cardiometabolic risk and refine the association between obesity and gut
J de la Cuesta-Zuluaga1, V Corrales-Agudelo1, J A Carmona2
1Vidarium, Nutrition, Health and Wellness Research Center, Grupo Empresarial Nutresa, Medellin, Colombia.
Insights
The gut microbiota
Area of Science:
- Microbiome research
- Human health and disease
- Metabolic disorders
Background:
- The gut microbiota's association with obesity is often found to be of small effect.
- Previous meta-analyses may be limited by using body mass index (BMI) as the sole indicator of disease.
- A more nuanced approach is needed to understand the gut microbiome's role in metabolic health.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between gut microbiota composition and cardiometabolic health status, beyond traditional BMI categories.
- To explore how classifying individuals by cardiometabolic health refines our understanding of gut microbial associations.
- To identify specific microbial consortia linked to different health and disease states.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of a cohort of 441 community-dwelling individuals.
- Collection of demographic, health, anthropometric, and blood biochemistry data.
- Categorization of participants based on BMI and cardiometabolic health status.
- 16S rRNA gene sequencing of fecal samples to profile the gut microbiota.
Main Results:
- Health indicators decline with increasing BMI, with variations even within BMI categories based on cardiometabolic health.
- Both obesity and cardiovascular disease correlate with reduced gut microbial alpha-diversity.
- Specific microbial consortia are linked to health status: pathobionts and Lachnospiraceae are higher in obese/unhealthy individuals, while Akkermansia, Methanobrevibacter, Oscillospira, and Dialister are more prevalent in healthy individuals.
- Marker taxa associated with obesity and cardiometabolic disease are more pronounced in individuals with abnormal health, even at the same BMI.
Conclusions:
- Incorporating cardiometabolic data refines the identification of gut microbiota differences.
- Detailed individual assessment, beyond BMI, is crucial for understanding gut microbiota in obesity.
- This approach is vital for developing targeted gut microbiota-based obesity treatments.
Objective:
The gut microbiota associates with obesity and related disorders, but recent meta-analyses have found that this association is, at best, of small effect. We argue that such analyses are flawed by the use of body mass index (BMI) as sole proxy for disease, and explore a classification method that distinguishes the cardiometabolic health status of individuals to look for more comprehensive associations between gut microbes and health.
Design:
We analyzed a 441 community-dwelling cohort on which we obtained demographic and health information, anthropometry and blood biochemistry data that served to categorize participants according to BMI, cardiometabolic health status and body size phenotypes. In addition, the participants donated fecal samples from which we performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing to analyze the gut microbiota.
Results:
We observed that health-related variables deteriorate with increased BMI, and that there are further discrepancies within a given BMI category when distinguishing cardiometabolically healthy and unhealthy individuals. Regarding the gut microbiota, both obesity and cardiovascular disease associate with reductions in α-diversity; having lean, healthy individuals the most diverse microbiotas. Moreover, the association between the gut microbiota and health stems from particular consortia of microbes; the prevalence of consortia involving pathobionts and Lachnospiraceae are increased in obese and cardiometabolically abnormal subjects, whereas consortia including Akkermansia muciniphila and Methanobrevibacter, Oscillospira and Dialister have higher prevalence in cardiometabolically healthy and normoweight participants.
Conclusions:
The incorporation of cardiometabolic data allows a refined identification of dissimilarities in the gut microbiota; within a given BMI category, marker taxa associated with obesity and cardiometabolic disease are exacerbated in individuals with abnormal health status. Our results highlight the importance of the detailed assessment and classification of individuals that should be carried out prior to the evaluation of obesity treatments targeting the gut microbiota.
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