Cutting edge research helps unlock the “mystery benefits” of the microbiome

iStock_000014500910_Mediumfrom the OmniVista Health Learning News Desk

An interesting new study shows that decreased gut microbial diversity is strongly associated with high body mass index (BMI) and triglyceride levels, as well as a low level of HDL (good) cholesterol.

That means you can now add gut bacteria to the list of risk factors for heart disease.

But this study took that discovery even farther by pinpointing some specific strains of intestinal bacteria that have a direct association with BMI and lipids.

This wasn’t possible in past years because state-of-the-art, deep sequencing technology hadn’t been developed yet.

But now that it has, the researchers examined the gut bacteria of 893 people from the Dutch LifeLines-DEEP study and singled out certain strains to see if they were associated with BMI and blood lipids.

All in all, they found the higher the microbial diversity, the healthier the blood lipids were. And when diversity was reduced, the microbiome was found to be strongly associated with a high BMI, high triclycerides and low levels of HDL.

Some of the specific bacteria associated with a low BMI, lower triglycerides, and higher HDL are called:

  • genus Akkermansia
  • phylum Firmicutes,
  • phylum Tenericutes

And those people with higher BMIs had lower amounts of these bacteria:

  • familiesChristensenellaceae and Rikenellaceae
  • class Mollicutes
  • genus Dehalobacterium
  • kingdom Archaea

The researchers also discovered the genus Eggerthella was associated with increased triglycerides and decreased HDL. And the family Pasteurellaceae plays a role in decreased triglycerides.

These specific strains and classes of bacteria are probably ones you’ve never heard of — which reinforces that true gut health goes way beyond acidophilus and lactobacillus.

Sources:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/850858#vp_1

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/850858#vp_2

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/index.html