Gut microbiome and body composition with sorbitol intake during early lifespan

Objective: The association of sorbitol intake with maintaining healthy body weight through the gut microbiome during early life was investigated.

Research methods and procedures: Sorbitol intake, body mass index (BMI), and fecal samples were collected in the total of 369 pregnant women with their infants (aged 4 months to 5 years) from the Taipei Mother-Infant Nutrition Cohort and 1946 children and adolescents (aged 6-18 years) from the Taiwan Puberty Longitudinal Study. The BMI-z score in sorbitol users was compared to that in sorbitol nonusers using generalized linear mixed model. The beta diversity of microbiome was investigated in both cohorts. The association between the richness of microbes and body composition was analyzed.

Results: The children and adolescents with high sorbitol intake had lower BMI-z score at 6 to 10 and 11 to 18 years of age (P < 0.01) compared with those without sorbitol intake. The beta diversity of the microbiome differed significantly between the sorbitol users and nonusers. Bifidobacterium was higher in the gut of infants and children whose mothers were sorbitol users than that of infants and children whose mothers were sorbitol nonusers during pregnancy. Several microbes were involved in the regulation of obesity, such as Staphylococcus, Faecalibacterium, and Oscillospiraceae_UCG-005 negatively associated with anthropometric measures.

Conclusions: Sorbitol intake was associated with lower child and adolescent BMI. Sorbitol consumption could shape the composition and richness of beneficial microbiota, contributing to the maintenance of ideal body weight and metabolic homeostasis in early life.