Research indicates metabolites in the blood interact with gut microbiota to influence metabolism, BMI

A new study aims to determine the metabolites in the blood that are associated to obesity (high body mass index or BMI) and to find out if these obesity-linked metabolites influence the composition of bacteria in stool samples.

• Blood plasma and stool samples were studied from 674 study participants in the Malmo Offspring Study by researchers at Lund University in Sweden.
• The researchers were able to determine 19 different metabolites that could be related to the person’s BMI – branched-chain and aromatic amino acids (BCAA) and glutamate are very strongly connected to obesity.
• The researchers also discovered that the obesity-related metabolites had an association with four different intestinal bacteria: Blautia, Dorea, and Ruminococcus in the Lachnospiraceae family, and SHA98.

The researchers also pointed out the fact that previous studies have already linked glutamate to obesity, and BCAA has been looked at as the basis for prediction of the future onset of cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes.

Journal Reference:

Ottosson F, Brunkwall L, Ericson U, Nilsson PM, Almgren P, Fernandez C, Melander O, Orho-Melander M. CONNECTION BETWEEN BMI RELATED PLASMA METABOLITE PROFILE AND GUT MICROBIOTA. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 2018 Feb 1. DOI: 10.1210/jc.2017-02114