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A. muciniphila linked to better metabolic health in overweight/obese individuals
The gut microbe Akkermansia muciniphila, a mucin-degrading bacterium, was associated with improved metabolic health and clinical outcomes after calorie restriction in overweight/obese individuals, according to recent study data.
A. muciniphila has been previously shown to lower body fat mass, improve glucose homoeostasis, decrease adipose tissue inflammation and increase gut integrity in mice, but the role of this gut microbe in humans “remains ambiguous.” Researchers from Europe therefore assessed potential associations between fecal A. muciniphila abundance, fecal microbial gene richness, diet, host anthropometric and metabolic characteristics and their subsequent changes after a calorie restriction intervention in overweight/obese adults (n = 49; 41 females).
Participants did not have diabetes, chronic or inflammatory diseases, did not take antibiotics for 2 months before stool collection, and adhered to a 6-week calorie restriction diet followed by a 6-week weight stabilization period.
They found A. muciniphila had an inverse association with fasting glucose, waist-to-hip ratio and subcutaneous adipocyte diameter at baseline. Higher abundance of A. muciniphila along with greater microbial gene richness was associated with healthier metabolic status, especially in fasting plasma glucose, plasma triglycerides and body fat distribution. Higher baseline A. muciniphila was associated with greater improvement in insulin sensitivity markers and other clinical parameters after the calorie restriction intervention. Calorie restriction was linked to a reduction in A. muciniphila abundance overall, but the abundance remained more than 100 times higher in individuals with higher baseline abundance compared with those who had lower baseline abundance. A. muciniphila was also associated with 27 other metagenomic species (P < .01) that may be part of “an ecosystem that influences the complicated interaction between host biology and environment.”
The researchers concluded “we demonstrated a significant association between A. muciniphila abundance and metabolic health and we provide a first view of A. muciniphila association with the gut ecosystem. Collectively, these observations demonstrate the importance of studying A. muciniphila in the context of the gut environment, as it may drive a favorable or deleterious contribution of A. muciniphila to health. The underlying mechanisms explaining these associations should be investigated in future studies.” – by Adam Leitenberger
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.