PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Cathy Yan
AU  - Helen Zhao
AU  - Navika Nayar
AU  - Kyung E. Rhee
AU  - Julie C. Lumeng
TI  - Diet Potentially Drives the Differentiation of Eating Behaviours via Alterations to the Gut Microbiome in Infants
AID  - 10.1101/2021.04.24.438478
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.04.24.438478
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/04/26/2021.04.24.438478.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/04/26/2021.04.24.438478.full
AB  - Certain infant eating behaviours are associated with adverse health outcomes such as obesity. While a diet consisting of infant formula has been linked to higher-risk eating behaviours and changes in the gut microbiome, little is known about what role the gut microbiome plays in mediating eating behaviours. Using 16S rRNA sequences extracted from 96 fecal samples collected from 58 infants, we identified a subset of bacterial taxa that were more abundant in formula-fed infants, primarily composed of the phylum Firmicutes. The presence of these taxa correlated with a lower drive to eat (i.e., lower food responsiveness). Furthermore, short-chain fatty acid production pathways were significantly more abundant in formula-fed infants, negatively correlated with food responsiveness, and positively associated with relative abundance of the Firmicutes subset. Our results suggest that higher abundances of Firmicutes in formula-fed infants may decrease their food responsiveness through short-chain fatty acid production in the first four months of life. Taken together, these findings suggest a potential role for the infant’s diet in impacting eating behaviour via changes to the gut microbiome, which may lead to the development of novel interventions for the prevention of childhood obesity.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.