Associations Between Microbial Depletion and Autonomic Dysregulation in Binge-Eating Disorder.

Area of Science:

• Microbiome research
• Autonomic nervous system function
• Gastroenterology

Background:

• The gut microbiome and autonomic nervous system interplay is understudied in binge-eating disorder (BED).
• Cardiac vagal tone, a measure of autonomic function, is a potential bio-behavioral phenotype in BED.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate specific gut microbial alterations in women with BED.
• To examine the association between these microbial changes and cardiac vagal tone in BED.

Main Methods:

• Compared women with BED and major depressive disorder (BED+MDD) to matched controls with MDD alone.
• Analyzed gut microbiome composition using 16S rRNA sequencing.
• Assessed cardiac vagal tone via heart rate variability (normalized high-frequency power, HFnu).

Main Results:

• No significant differences in global gut microbial diversity were observed between groups.
• The BED group showed a lower abundance of fermentative bacteria, including Pediococcus.
• Pediococcus depletion strongly correlated with reduced vagal tone (HFnu) exclusively in the BED group.

Conclusions:

• A BED-specific association exists between depleted fermentative gut bacteria, autonomic instability, and dietary intake.
• This gut-brain axis disruption may be a physiological response to binge-eating behaviors.
• Further research is needed to determine if these microbial patterns are causal or a marker of BED.