The prerequisite for this study is the galloping epidemic of obesity and in particular childhood obesity. Any intervention that can prevent the development of obesity from early childhood should therefore be considered. By demonstrating that the risk is detectable in the intestinal microbiota of infants, this study from the University of Colorado, presented in the journal mBio, also provides proof of the already well-documented link of the key role of the intestinal microbiota in the development of obesity. . But it goes further, it detects a risk signature very early in life and with 10 years of visibility.
In practice, assessing the gut microbiota of infants could help identify children at risk of overweight or obesity later in life. Research reveals that the composition of the gut microbiota as early as age 2 is associated with body mass index (BMI) by age 12. Moreover, in this case, the BMI at 2 years is not significantly higher in children at risk of overweight and obesity, suggesting that the composition of the intestinal microbiota could be the first predictor of the disease. obesity.
More evidence on the key and early role of the gut microbiota in obesity: many studies have already documented the role of the gut microbiotain obesity, and there is already evidence of a causal role. Here, researchers from the University of Colorado in collaboration with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Oslo analyzed data from 165 infants with measured BMI at age 12, participating in the NoMIC birth cohort investigating the gut microbiome. early. NoMIC includes approximately 550 children now teenagers. At age 12, 20% of the 165 children in the cohort were overweight or obese. The researchers compared BMI at age 12 with gut microbiota samples taken six times during childhood, at 4 days, 10 days, one month, 4 months, one year and 2 years. The researchers also performed 16s rRNA gene sequencing on the gut microbiota samples. This analysis reveals:
- qualitative differences in the composition of the intestinal microbiota of children at day 10 and at the age of 2 years and these differences appear to be associated with BMI at the age of 12 years;
- examination of the impact of early gut microbiota taxa on variation in BMI scores in children shows little relationship between gut microbiota taxa and BMI later in life, however the relationship is growing stronger with the age of the children;
- finally, this intestinal microbiota phenotype is present before any obvious sign of overweight or obesity.
Admittedly, the research will have to be replicated in other cohorts, but if it were reproduced identically, this would suggest a signature in young children, prior to excessive weight gain, of the risk of obesity.
It is therefore a new tool for identifying children at risk of developing obesity that is emerging with these data.