Overweight and underweight status are linked to specific gut microbiota and intestinal tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates

Summary Background & aims Intestinal short-chain fatty acids have been demonstrated to modulate host energy metabolism and are elevated in overweight and obese individuals. We hypothesized that other intestinal energy products especially tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates might also related to overweight status. In addition, little information is available regarding to the potential relationship between gut microbiota composition and underweight status. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate whether the gut microbiota and intestinal energy metabolites differ in underweight, normal weight and overweight individuals, and their correlations with host cardiometabolic risk factors. Subjects/Methods Gut microbiome, intestinal energy metabolites, circulating cardiometabolic risk factors and proinflammatory makers were determined in 29 underweight, 67 normal weight and 67 overweight healthy adults. Results The fecal concentrations of succinic acid, fumaric acid, malic acid, propionic acid and adipic acid were significantly increased in the overweight individuals, in parallel with a higher relative abundance of Veillonellacea after adjusting for multiple variable comparisons (all p   0.25, p  Conclusions Our findings revealed that low gut microbiota diversity was associated with both overweight and underweight status. Intestinal TCA cycle intermediates were associated with overweight development and might be potential markers for further studies related to gut microbiota and host cardiometabolic health.