Skip to main content
About the Institute
  • English
  • Français
  • Español
  • Russian
  • Portuguese
  • Polish

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Gastroenterology
  3. Severe obesity: the vicious circle of biotin metabolism
  • Our publications
    • News
    • Microbiota Mag
    • Thematic folders
    • Overviews - Microbiota Magazine
  • About the Institute
    • Partnerships
    • Press room
  • Congresses
    • Congress calendar
    • Congress reviews
  • Continuing Medical Education
    • Accrediting courses
    • Xpeer App
  • Useful documents
    • Infographics
    About the Institute

    Join the microbiota community

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube

Lay public section

Find here your dedicated section
Gastroenterology
Gynecology
Pediatrics
Dermatology

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Gastroenterology
  3. Severe obesity: the vicious circle of biotin metabolism
Gastroenterology

Severe obesity: the vicious circle of biotin metabolism

Obesity
Gastroenterology Endocrinology

Paradoxically, the severely obese are often malnourished, with quantity not compensating for the low quality of their diet. This results in a vicious circle involving the gut microbiota, with extremely low vitamin B levels playing a key role.

Gastroenterology
Gynecology
Pediatrics
Dermatology
  • Our publications
    • News
    • Microbiota Mag
    • Thematic folders
    • Overviews - Microbiota Magazine
  • About the Institute
    • Partnerships
    • Press room
  • Congresses
    • Congress calendar
    • Congress reviews
  • Continuing Medical Education
    • Accrediting courses
    • Xpeer App
  • Useful documents
    • Infographics
    About the Institute

    Join the microbiota community

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube

Lay public section

Find here your dedicated section

Sources

This article is based on scientific information

Sharing is caring

Your colleagues might be interested in this topic. Why not share it?

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail

About this article

Created 26 April 2022
Updated 03 May 2022

We know that B vitamins influence microbial function, host metabolism, and inflammation, and this is particularly so for biotin (B8) produced by gut bacteria. B vitamins are thus involved in the regulation of host metabolic health. Is this also the case in severely obese humans? This is an important question, since previous preclinical and clinical studies have shown altered serum and tissue biotin levels in obese subjects.

x11 Worldwide, severe obesity increased 11-fold in men

x3 and 3-fold in women between 1975 and 2014.

Fewer biotin-producing or transporting bacteria

To answer the question, researchers looked at data from 1,545 subjects participating in the multicenter European (sidenote: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/305312/fr ) study, comparing 608 severely obese patients (BMI>35) with 299 overweight or obese patients (25<BMI<35), and 638 normal BMI (BMI<25) control subjects. 

They found that severe obesity is associated with a deficiency in bacteria that produce and transport biotin. Since the abundance of these bacteria is correlated with inflammatory status and associated metabolic disorders, this has implications for obese patients. 

Moreover, the severely obese had suboptimal levels of circulating biotin and an altered expression of genes coding for this vitamin in their adipose tissue.

Gut bacteria to blame?

Human to mice microbiota transfer experiments confirm the gut microbiota’s contribution to the level of biotin in the blood. However, diet also plays a role, with the (sidenote: Western diet Diet rich in processed foods, refined sugar, salt, saturated fats (red meats) and trans fats (pastries) Zinöcker MK, Lindseth IA. The Western Diet-Microbiome-Host Interaction and Its Role in Metabolic Disease. Nutrients. 2018 Mar 17;10(3):365.  ) leading to a decrease in biotin-producing gut bacteria, as well as a reduction in circulating levels of biotin. Furthermore, gut inflammation observed in obese patients paradoxically limits the absorption of biotin from food.

Ultimately, a vicious circle may be at play in the case of severe obesity: the molecular signals of the dysbiotic microbiota could aggravate host inflammation and contribute to a biotin deficiency in tissue.

Therapeutic avenues?

How to break the vicious circle? Bariatric surgery, which improves metabolism and inflammation, promotes biotin-producing bacteria. This leads to an improvement in the host’s systemic biotin. Another avenue is prebiotic (fiber) and biotin supplementation. In mice fed a high-fat diet, these two pathways improved gut microbiota diversity and bacterial production of biotin and other B vitamins, while limiting weight gain and glycemic deterioration. Two avenues that may make a vicious circle virtuous.

Sources

Belda E, Voland L, Tremaroli V et al. Impairment of gut microbial biotin metabolism and host biotin status in severe obesity: effect of biotin and prebiotic supplementation on improved metabolism. Gut. 2022 Jan 11:gutjnl-2021-325753. 

Damms-Machado A, Weser G, Bischoff SC. Micronutrient deficiency in obese subjects undergoing low calorie diet. Nutr J. 2012 Jun 1;11:34.

NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC). Trends in adult body-mass index in 200 countries from 1975 to 2014: a pooled analysis of 1698 population-based measurement studies with 19·2 million participants. Lancet. 2016;387:1377–96

Tags
Obesity Weight Prebiotic Vitamines Dysbiosis

en_view en_sources

    See also

    High-fibre diet mitigates maternal obesity-induced cognitive and social dysfunction in the offspring via gut-brain axis
    Identifying overweight patients at risk of osteoarthritis based on their gut microbiota
    Created 26 April 2022
    Updated 03 May 2022

    About this article

    To know more about this topic.

    Main topic

    Obesity

    Medical practice

    Gastroenterology Endocrinology

    Content type

    News
    Gastroenterology

    Your IBS Diagnosis Check List

    How many patients suffering from gut disorder do you see per week? How many are diagnosed with Irritable Bo...

    Find out more

    Human milk nutrient fortifiers alter the developing gastrointestinal microbiota of very-low-birth-weight infants

    Commented article - Children's section By Pr. Emmanuel M...

    Find out more

    Impact of beer and non alcoholic consumption on the gut microbiota

    By Pr. Bernd SchnablDivision of Gastroenterology, San Diego Digestive Diseases Research Center (SDDRC), UC ...

    Find out more

    Everything you need to know about Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

    Accrediting training, infographics, expert’s video, thematic folder, news… Biocodex Microbiota Institute pr...

    Find out more

    Gut Microbiota #17

    By Pr. Satu PekkalaAcademy of Finland Research Fellow, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of ...

    Find out more

    Gut Microbiota # 16

    By Pr. Satu PekkalaAcademy of Finland Research Fellow, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of ...

    Find out more

    Highlights from the UEGW

    By Dr. Lucas WautersGastroenterology and Hepatology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Find out more

    The Gut-Brain axis

    By Pr. Sarkis K. Mazmanian, John W. Bostick, Nadia SuryawinataBiology and Biological Engineering, Californi...

    Find out more

    Continue reading

    News
    14.03.2023

    Positive impact of running on gut microbiota and adolescent depression

    Read the article
    09.03.2023

    Each subtype of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) has its own dysbiosis

    Read the article
    Parkinson : le microbiote intestinal, chef d’orchestre des mécanismes pathogéniques ?
    27.02.2023

    Does the gut microbiota orchestrate pathogenic mechanisms in Parkinson’s disease?

    Read the article
    Everything you need to know about Microbiota & Immunity
    15.09.2022

    Everything you need to know about Microbiota & Immunity

    Read the article
    The psychobiotic diet: modulating gut microbiota to reduce stress
    13.02.2023

    The psychobiotic diet: modulating gut microbiota to reduce stress

    Read the article
    30.01.2023

    Schizophrenia and aggressive behavior: what involvement of the intestinal microbiota?

    Read the article
    23.01.2023

    Idiopathic urethritis in men: new infectious etiologies?

    Read the article
    13.01.2023

    Insomnia in seniors: a link with the gut microbiota

    Read the article
    What's worth reading about microbiota
    Follow us on Twitter
    Read our thematic folder
    The Janus face of Antibiotics: Life Savers & Microbiota Disrupters
    NL13_cover
    Check out latest newsletter
    IBS, Microbiota & Covid-19
    • Our publications
      • News
      • Microbiota Mag
      • Thematic folders
      • Overviews - Microbiota Magazine
    • About the Institute
      • Partnerships
      • Press room
    • Congresses
      • Congress calendar
      • Congress reviews
    • Continuing Medical Education
      • Accrediting courses
      • Xpeer App
    • Useful documents
      • Infographics
      About the Institute

      Join the microbiota community

      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • LinkedIn
      • YouTube

    Lay public section

    Find here your dedicated section
    Gastroenterology
    Gynecology
    Pediatrics
    Dermatology
    • English
    • Français
    • Español
    • Russian
    • Portuguese
    • Polish

    Browse the site

    • Our publications
      • News
      • Microbiota Mag
      • Thematic folders
      • Overviews - Microbiota Magazine
    • About the Institute
      • Partnerships
      • Press room
    • Congresses
      • Congress calendar
      • Congress reviews
    • Continuing Medical Education
      • Accrediting courses
      • Xpeer App
    • Useful documents
      • Infographics
      About the Institute

      Join the microbiota community

      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • LinkedIn
      • YouTube

    Lay public section

    Find here your dedicated section

    Discover

    Gastroenterology
    Gynecology
    Pediatrics
    Dermatology

    Join the microbiota community

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube

    Lay public section

    Find here your dedicated section

    Redirection

    You are about to be redirected and leave our website

    • Be redirected
    • Stay on the Biocodex Microbiota Institute's website

    Stay with us !

    Join the Microbiota Community of HCPs and researchers and receive “Microbiota Digest” and "Microbiota Mag" to stay up to date on the latest news about microbiota.

    * Mandatory Fields

    BMI 20-35

    Explore

    14.03.2023

    Positive impact of running on gut microbiota and adolescent depression

    Read the article
    09.03.2023

    Each subtype of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) has its own dysbiosis

    Read the article
    Parkinson : le microbiote intestinal, chef d’orchestre des mécanismes pathogéniques ?
    27.02.2023

    Does the gut microbiota orchestrate pathogenic mechanisms in Parkinson’s disease?

    Read the article

    Stay updated

    Join the Microbiota Community of HCPs and researchers and receive “Microbiota Digest” and "Microbiota Mag" to stay up to date on the latest news about microbiota.

    * Mandatory Fields

    BMI 20-35

    • Our publications
      • News
      • Microbiota Mag
      • Thematic folders
      • Overviews - Microbiota Magazine
    • About the Institute
      • Partnerships
      • Press room
    • Congresses
      • Congress calendar
      • Congress reviews
    • Continuing Medical Education
      • Accrediting courses
      • Xpeer App
    • Useful documents
      • Infographics
      About the Institute

      Join the microbiota community

      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • LinkedIn
      • YouTube

    Lay public section

    Find here your dedicated section

    Discover

    Gastroenterology
    Gynecology
    Pediatrics
    Dermatology

    Lay public section

    Find here your dedicated section

    Join the microbiota community

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube

    © 2022 Biocodex. All rights reserved.

    • Cookies Policy
    • Data protection policy
    • GTU
    • Sitemap
    • Cookies settings
    Biocodex logo