Interest of profiling the gut microbiota to evaluate the effect of dietary inulin on obesity-related metabolic disorders in humans: the FOOD4GUT intervention study

Rationale: In the context of increased obesity rates in Europe, we launched the multidisciplinary project FOOD4GUT (funded by the Excellence Program of the Walloon Region, Belgium) which proposes an innovative nutritional approach – food and supplement intervention to increase inulin prebiotic intake – to control obesity and related metabolic disorders. We aim to examine whether a shift in the gut microbiota composition by prebiotic improves the obese phenotype.
Methods: Placebo-controlled parallel study including 150 obese subjects (BMI > 30 kg ·m−2; 18–
65 years, recruited in three university hospitals in Belgium), with at least one of the following criteria: (pre-)diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and/or liver steatosis. The participants were randomly assigned to receive either 16 g/day of inulin (fibruline, Cosucra) or placebo (maltodextrin, Cargill) with dietary advice to increaseor not the consumption of vegetables rich in inulin type fructans intake for 3 months.
Results: Recipes containing high amounts (around 15 g/day) of inulin were validated prior the start of the trial. So far, 31 patients were recruited in the St-Luc-UCL Hospital (age 51 ± 1.9; BMI 34.9 ± 0.8 kg/m2). The gut microbiota analysis before the intervention revealed that patients exhibiting a higher level of Bifidobacterium and Faecalibacterium, are
associated with a low level of Lactobacillus, Blautia and Akkermansia muciniphila. Some bacteria such as Bilophila arenot discriminant.
Conclusion: The first outcome data will be collected in May 2017, including blood parameters, anthropometric measurements, fibroscan and abdominal CT-scan. We expect differential
biological response to the dietary intervention in view of the patient’s initial microbial profile. The results will be presented for the first time in the ESPEN congress in September 2017.