MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Yalcin Basaran, MD
Gulhane Military Medical Academy School of Medicine
Ankara, Turkey.
MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Basaran: We designed a cross-sectional study to identify the relation between the gut microbiota composition and obesity and diabetes. 27 severely obese individuals (20 men and 7 women with mean BMI: 39.98±5.56 kg/m
2), 26 patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes (18 men and 8 women with mean BMI: 28.63±5.08 kg/m
2) and 28 healthy control subjects (22 men and 6 women with mean BMI: 23.02±1.70 kg/m
2), between 18-65 years of age, were included in the present study. None of the participants was undergoing chronic treatment and no antibiotics, probiotics or prebiotics were taken within 3 months before collecting fecal material. Fecal samples were self-collected in sterile boxes, stored at -80
o until analysis, and analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR for the presence of the most common types of intestinal bacteria.
Although tended to increase, we observed no significant difference between the three groups in regards to fecal concentrations of Bacteroidetes. There was also no considerable difference in the fecal Bifidobacteria, Firmicutes and Clostridium Leptum levels among the obesity and diabetes groups. However, Bifidobacteria, Firmicutes and Clostridium Leptum counts were all significantly lower in obese and diabetic patients compared with healthy control individuals. Additionally, logistic regression analysis showed that parameters of adiposity (weight, BMI and waist circumference) and those of glucose control (FBG and HbA1c) were related to the altered gut microbiota composition. This suggests that alterations in the gut microbiota composition may influence metabolic profile in humans.
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