Microbiome Linked to Body Fat (again)…

Dr. Shawn Talbott (Ph.D., CNS, LDN, FACSM, FACN, FAIS) has gone from triathlon struggler to gut-brain guru! With a Ph.D. in Nutritional Biochemistry, he's on a mission to boost everyday human performance through the power of natural solutions and the gut-brain axis.

Interesting new study from the journal Nature Metabolism – add this one (VB – a regulator of mitochondrial metabolism) to the long and growing list of the different “signals” that originate in the microbiome and traverse the Gut-Brain-Axis to influence fat loss/gain, appetite, energy levels, mood, mental focus, motivation, immune function, inflammation, and so many more aspects of metabolism.

Microbial metabolite delta-valerobetaine is a diet-dependent obesogen | Nature Metabolism

Obesity and obesity-related metabolic disorders are linked to the intestinal microbiome. However, the causality of changes in the microbiome–host interaction affecting energy metabolism remains controversial. Here, we show the microbiome-derived metabolite ?-valerobetaine (VB) is a diet-dependent obesogen that is increased with phenotypic obesity and is correlated with visceral adipose tissue mass in humans. VB is absent in germ-free mice and their mitochondria but present in ex-germ-free conventionalized mice and their mitochondria. Mechanistic studies in vivo and in vitro show VB is produced by diverse bacterial species and inhibits mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation through decreasing cellular carnitine and mitochondrial long-chain acyl-coenzyme As. VB administration to germ-free and conventional mice increases visceral fat mass and exacerbates hepatic steatosis with a western diet but not control diet. Thus, VB provides a molecular target to understand and potentially manage microbiome–host symbiosis or dysbiosis in diet-dependent obesity. Delta-valerobetaine is a microbiome-derived metabolite that correlates with obesity-related phenotypes in humans, and exacerbates diet-induced obesity in mice.
— Read on www.nature.com/articles/s42255-021-00502-8

About the Author

Exercise physiologist (MS, UMass Amherst) and Nutritional Biochemist (PhD, Rutgers) who studies how lifestyle influences our biochemistry, psychology and behavior - which kind of makes me a "Psycho-Nutritionist"?!?!

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