Can Different Microbes Exist in Your Gut Depending on Your Gender and Body Mass?

By: Mayra Gonzalez

Every individual has a variety of microbes within the human body known as microbiota, or "normal flora". Normal flora includes bacteria like E.coli and Helicobacter pylori which can be found in the gut and have benefits like producing vitamin K for their host while preventing harmful bacteria from making the large intestine their home. A recent study suggests that the number and kind of microbes humans have within their bodies can be different depending on sex and body mass. Forty healthy individuals were sampled and the findings have made a connection between the microbes present and gender or body mass. The results showed that diet is undoubtedly one of the major players in shaping our microbial community. The more obese the individual, the more researchers noticed a depletion of vital microbes which play a key role in regulating metabolic inflammation. When it comes to sex and microbes, women seemed to have a higher number of certain microbes in the gut, while men had significantly less of the same microbe. These particular studies are needed in order to better understand specific microbes in specific ranges and categories. They can eventually improve diagnostic and clinical strategies and more specifically make advances in gender-specific medicine.

Figure 1: Representation of microbes present within individuals based on sex
(Females are in red; males in blue). Bacteria being studied in graph are Actinobacteria and Lactobacillales.

Article Citation: Benetti A, Borgo F, Garbossa S, Luigiano C, Riva A, Severgnini M, et al. (2018) Body Mass Index and Sex Affect Diverse Microbial Niches Within the Gut. Frontiers in Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.00213