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Gut Microbiota Diversity and Overweight/Obesity in Infancy: Results from a Nested Case-control Study

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Abstract

Objective

Childhood obesity is a major health concern worldwide. Previous studies have explored the relationship between obesity and gut microbiota. However, the results from such studies remain contradictory.

Methods

In the present nested case-control study, based on a twin birth cohort study, the relationship between gut microbiota diversity and overweight/obesity in 1- and 6-month-old infants was explored. Twins were enrolled when one child had normal weight and the other child was overweight/obese at six months old. For both infants, stool samples were collected at 1 and 6 months of age. Finally, 12 twins were enrolled in the study. The gut microbiota was identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing in the V3–V4 area. Six of the twins were monozygotic.

Results

The results revealed that the microbiota communities of monozygotic twins were similar to those of dizygotic twins. The relative abundance (RA) of microbiota of 1-month-old twins was significantly higher than that of 6-month-old twins. However, the microbiota diversity of 1-month-old twins was significantly lower than that of 6-month-old twins. In addition, 6-month-old twins had significantly higher RA levels of Bifidobacterium and Lachnospiracea incertae sedis than 1-month-old twins. The 6-month-old group had significantly lower RA levels of Veillonella, Klebsiella, Akkermansia, Streptococcus, or Staphylococcus than the 1-month-old group. At six months, the RA level of Clostridium sensu stricto was higher in the overweight/obesity group than the normal-weight group.

Conclusion

These findings imply that changes in gut microbiota diversity during infancy may contribute to the development of obesity in early infancy.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the participants who enrolled in the study. We also acknowledge our colleagues who assisted in the anthropometric measurements and data collection.

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Author notes

  1. The authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wuhan Children’s Hospital (Wuhan Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital), Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan, 430016, China

    Hong Mei, Yan Zhang, Dan Zhang, An-na Peng, Ya-fei Tan, Hui Mei, Han Xiao, Jiang-xia Cao, Jie-qiong Zhou, Yuan-yuan Zhong, Rui-zhen Li & Shao-ping Yang

  2. The Central Hospital of Wuhan, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan, 430000, China

    Neng Li

Authors
  1. Hong Mei
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  2. Neng Li
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  3. Yan Zhang
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  4. Dan Zhang
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  5. An-na Peng
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  13. Shao-ping Yang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shao-ping Yang.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81903332) and the Applied Frontier Project of Wuhan Municipal Science and Technology Bureau (No. 2019020701011488).

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Mei, H., Li, N., Zhang, Y. et al. Gut Microbiota Diversity and Overweight/Obesity in Infancy: Results from a Nested Case-control Study. CURR MED SCI 42, 210–216 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-021-2476-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-021-2476-1

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