The associations of metabolic products derived from gut microbes with age, obesity, host genetics and gut microbiome composition were investigated in the faecal samples of 786 predominantly female twins from the TwinsUK cohort (a national twin registry).
The faecal metabolome was largely associated with gut microbial composition (67.7%) and only modestly influenced by host genetics (17.9%). The strong associations were observed with visceral fat mass, highlighting potential mechanisms underlying the microbial influence on abdominal obesity.
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Reference: Jonas Zierer J et al. The fecal metabolome as a functional readout of the gut microbiome. Nature Genetics 2018; doi:10.1038/s41588-018-0135-7
