| Study Abstract |
To gain more insight into the interconnection between microbiota, obesity and diet, we analyzed the metagenome of 16 patients following a weight-loss program based on a very low calorie inulin-enriched formula diet. In this longitudinal study we used shotgun sequencing of stool DNA to look at taxonomic and functional changes at different phases of the program. In 2 years we sequenced fecal samples at six time points, the baseline (before intervention, = T0), after diet intervention, (3 months later: T3), after reintroduction phase (T6), and three time points at the maintenance phase i.e. month 12 (T12), month 18 (T18) and month 24 (T24). In parallel, clinical parameters were monitored in order to establish potential relationships between microbiota and obesity-associated-disease particularly hypertension, insulin resistance, fatty liver and the metabolic syndrome. Moreover we analyzed the marker potential of microbial parameters for weight loss maintenance success. |
