Bacteria: Metabolic Syndrome

Gut Bacteria Tied to Metabolic Syndrome

Download Complimentary Source PDF 

By Todd Neale, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Published: August 15, 2012

Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

Action Points

• Certain bacteria in the gut may be associated with various components of the metabolic syndrome, a study in an Old Order Amish community showed.
• Point out that all of the study participants belonged to one of three groups defined by the presence of separate communities containing six to 12 genera of bacteria.

Certain bacteria in the gut may be associated with various components of the metabolic syndrome, a study in an Old Order Amish community showed.

All of the study participants belonged to one of three groups defined by the presence of separate communities containing six to 12 genera of bacteria, according to Claire Fraser, PhD, of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues. Each genus can contain several individual bacterial species.

Although none of the three bacterial communities were associated with body mass index or any of the metabolic syndrome components, 26 of the individual bacterial species were associated either positively or negatively with BMI, serum triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, fasting glucose levels, and C-reactive protein, the researchers reported online in PLoS One.