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Microbial ecology

Human gut microbes associated with obesity

Abstract

Two groups of beneficial bacteria are dominant in the human gut, the Bacteroidetes and the Firmicutes. Here we show that the relative proportion of Bacteroidetes is decreased in obese people by comparison with lean people, and that this proportion increases with weight loss on two types of low-calorie diet. Our findings indicate that obesity has a microbial component, which might have potential therapeutic implications.

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Figure 1: Correlation between body-weight loss and gut microbial ecology.

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Correspondence to Jeffrey I. Gordon.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Ley, R., Turnbaugh, P., Klein, S. et al. Human gut microbes associated with obesity. Nature 444, 1022–1023 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/4441022a

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