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Epidemiology and Population Health

Gut microbiota and overweight in 3-year old children

International Journal of Obesity volume 43, pages 713–723 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Background

The gut microbiota has been associated with overweight and obesity in adults, but the evidence in children is limited. Our aim was to study whether composition of the gut microbiota at the age of 3 years is associated with overweight/obesity in children cross-sectionally.

Methods

Children, who participated in a clinical trial of prenatal vitamin-D supplementation (VDAART), underwent standardized height and weight measurements, and collection of stool samples at 3 years of age. 16 S rRNA sequencing (V4 region) of the stool samples were performed with Illumina MiSeq. Associations between microbiota and overweight/obesity (body mass index z-scores >85th percentile) was analyzed using logistic regression.

Results

Out of 502 children, 146 (29%) were categorized as overweight/obese. Maternal pre-pregnancy BMI, birth weight and length, formula feeding during the first year, high frequency of fast food consumption, and time watching TV or computer screen at 3 years were the risk factors for overweight/obesity. Of the top 20 most abundant genera, high relative abundance of Parabacteroidetes (Bacteroidetes; Bacteroidales) (aOR(95% CI): 0.69 (0.53, 0.90, p = 0.007) per interquartile increase) and unassigned genus within Peptostreptococcae family were inversely associated with overweight/obesity, whereas high relative abundance of Dorea (Firmicutes;Clostridiales) (1.23 (1.05, 1.43, p = 0.009)) was positively associated. Associations were independent of each other. No associations were found between diversity indices and overweight/obesity.

Conclusions

Our data suggest that some of the differences in gut composition of bacteria between obese and non-obese adults can already be observed in 3-year old children. Longitudinal studies will be needed to determine long-term effects.

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Acknowledgements

We thank families who have taken part of the VDAART study. We would like to thank Nancy Laranjo for data management; John Ziniti and Nicholas Wolfe for helping with the microbiota data and advanced statistical analyses; Pauli Tuoresmäki for helping with the figure. We also thank the project coordinator, study coordinators and research assistants at the VDAART clinical centers (at Washington University St. Louis, Boston University Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente Southern California). This study was supported by NIH grants HL091528, HL108818 and 1UL1TR001430, and the research grants from the Academy of Finland (grant 287675); the Juho Vainio Foundation; the Foundation for Pediatric Research; and by the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland.

Funding

AB has received research grants from the NIH. DRG was funded by NIH grant HL108818. STW and AAL were funded by NIH grant HL091528. The remaining authors (AMK, JES, LBB, GTOC and RSZ) have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Security, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Kuopio, Finland

    Anne M. Karvonen

  2. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Anne M. Karvonen, Diane R. Gold & Scott T. Weiss

  3. Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Joanne E. Sordillo

  4. Division of Pediatric Allergy, Immunology and Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Leonard B. Bacharier & Avraham Beigelman

  5. Pulmonary Center, Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

    George T. O’Connor

  6. Department of Allergy and Department of Research and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, San Diego and Pasadena, San Diego, CA, USA

    Robert S. Zeiger

  7. Division of Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Golisano Children’s Hospital at Strong, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, NY, USA

    Augusto A. Litonjua

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Contributions

Dr. Karvonen carried out the initial statistical analyses, interpreted data, drafted the initial manuscript, and reviewed and revised the manuscript; Dr. Sordillo designed sequencing assessment, interpreted data, and reviewed and revised the manuscript; Drs. Gold, Bacharier, O’Connor, Zeiger, and Beigelman acquired and interpreted data, revised manuscript critically for important intellectual content; Drs. Weiss, Litonjua, and Gold designed the study concept. Drs. Weiss and Litonjua coordinated and supervised data collection, interpreted data, revised manuscript critically for important intellectual content. All authors approved the final manuscript as submitted and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

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Correspondence to Anne M. Karvonen.

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Karvonen, A.M., Sordillo, J.E., Gold, D.R. et al. Gut microbiota and overweight in 3-year old children. Int J Obes 43, 713–723 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-018-0290-z

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