Gut microbes and nutrient absorption
Human gut microbiota and nutrient absorption
Culture-independent metagenomic methods offer a new approach to identify representatives of the human gut microbiota. Recent observations suggest that obese individuals have an altered relative abundance of some members of the gut microbiota; however, it remains unclear whether differences in human gut bacterial communities are associated with nutrient absorption. In 21 individuals whose food and stool calories were carefully measured on an inpatient unit, we found that a change in the relative abundance of the two major bacterial phyla, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, was positively and negatively associated with the percentage of overfeeding relative to weight maintaining energy needs. This change in abundance of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes was also positively and negatively associated with nutrient absorption in lean individuals.