Bacterial microbiota and fatty acids in the faeces of overweight and obese children

Abstract

The growing number of children with overweight and obesity constitutes a major health problem of the modern world and it has been suggested that intestinal microbiota may influence energy intake from food. The objectives of this study were to determine quantity and proportions of dominant genera of Bacteroides, Prevotella (phylum Bacteroidetes); Clostridium, Lactobacillus (phylum Firmicutes) and Bifidobacterium (phylum Actinobacteria) in the intestines and to determine the content of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and branched-chain fatty acids (BCFAs) in the stool of 20 obese children and 20 children with normal body weight. Strains classified as Firmicutes (Clostridium and Lactobacillus) predominated in stool microbiota of obese children, while those of Bacteroidetes (Prevotella and Bacteroides) were in minority (p< 0.001). Concentration of SCFAs in the stool of obese children was lower in comparison to the stool of normal weight children (p= 0.04). However, these differences were significant only in obese children, not in overweight children in comparison with the lean ones. Therefore, in our study obesity was associated with intestinal dysbiosis and a predominance of phylum Firmicutes. Secondly, stool of obese children contained lower amounts of SCFAs.