Obesity is a health problem that increases mortality and morbidity globally. Although there have been developments in therapeutic obesity treatments, the prevalence of obesity has increased. Additionally, there have been developments in understanding the mechanisms underlying obesity. For example, recent evidence highlights the gut microbiota as a risk factor for obesity. However, there is limited evidence on the link between the gut microbiota composition and obesity markers in the Middle East. To investigate these potential markers, the research group performed a case-control study of 92 Saudi women who were obese or normal weight. Anthropometric, body composition, biochemical data measurements, as well as stool samples, were collected. Then, stool samples were sequenced by whole genome shotgun sequencing at CosmosID, and the CosmosID bioinformatics platform was used to comparatively analyze the gut microbiome compositions of the cohorts. The alpha diversity comparison using Shannon’s Index illustrates that the normal waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) cohort harbors higher alpha diversity than the high WHR cohort. Furthermore, performing a beta diversity comparison highlighted that body mass index (p-value = 0.05), %body fat (p-value = 0.02), and WHR (p-value = 0.05) significantly varied by gut bacterial comparison. After observing community composition dissimilarity, the research group investigated which differentially abundant taxa may drive the divergence of normal weight controls from obese cases. Performing a LefSe analysis illustrated that Alistipes was higher in the control group compared with the case group. Additionally, Bacteroidetes and Synergistetes were positively associated with different obesity markers, such as waist-to-hip ratio. The findings of the research underlined possible gut microbiome biomarkers associated with obesity in Saudi women that may help mitigate obesity. To have a deep dive into the subject, here is the original research.
