Supplementation of this gut bacteria may help prevent CVD, diabetes, and to lose weight

Delhi: Good gut health has always been known to be the key for overall health. Now, a recent study published in the journal Nature Medicine has demonstrated the benefits of gut bacteria Akkermansia muciniphila in improving metabolic parameters among overweight and obese volunteers.

The study found that obese people who received daily oral supplementation of A. muciniphila bacteria either live or pasteurized for three months helped in the following ways:

• Improved insulin sensitivity


• Decreased insulinemia (the presence of an abnormally high concentration of insulin in the blood)


• Slightly decreased body weight


• Decrease in total cholesterol


• Reduced hip circumference


• Decreased fat mass


• Reduced the levels of the relevant blood markers for liver dysfunction


• Reduced inflammation

The presence of these risk factors compromises cardiometabolic health, putting people at an increased risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Some previous studies have demonstrated a negative correlation between the abundance of A. muciniphila and type 2 diabetes, hypertension, overweight and obesity. However, the administration of A. muciniphila has not been investigated until now in humans.

Patrice D. Can, a researcher at the Louvain Drug Research Institute at the University of Louvain, Belgium, and colleagues conducted this proof-of-concept study to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and tolerance of A. muciniphila supplementation (for three months) and explored its metabolic effects in 40 overweight/obese insulin-resistant volunteers.

The research team gave Akkermansia to participants who were either overweight or obese. The research was a "randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study" that enrolled 40 individuals, 32 of whom finished the clinical phase of the study.

The participants — who had prediabetes and metabolic syndrome — were assigned to three groups: a group that received a placebo, another that received live Akkermansia, and a group that took the pasteurized bacteria as a nutritional supplement. The study lasted for 3 months.

Key findings of the study include:

• Compared to placebo, pasteurized A. muciniphila improved insulin sensitivity (+28.62 ± 7.02%), and reduced insulinemia (−34.08 ± 7.12%) and plasma total cholesterol (−8.68 ± 2.38%).


• Pasteurized A. muciniphila supplementation slightly decreased body weight (−2.27 ± 0.92 kg) compared to the placebo group, and fat mass (−1.37 ± 0.82 kg) and hip circumference (−2.63 ± 1.14 cm) compared to baseline.


• After three months of supplementation, A. muciniphila reduced the levels of the relevant blood markers for liver dysfunction and inflammation while the overall gut microbiome structure was unaffected.


• Pasteurized A. muciniphila administration was associated with significant decreases in total cholesterol and GGT and AST (but not ALT) levels.

One of the strange findings of the study was that in almost every case, the pasteurized bacteria had stronger effects than the live bacteria.

"This is because of the presence of exopolysaccharides—slime in the live bacteria that prevent a beneficial membrane protein called Amuc_1100 from being exposed to the immune system. This protein might be the secret to the beneficial effects of bacteria, as the administration of this protein alone in mice demonstrated the same effects as shown by administering the pasteurized bacteria. While pasteurization removes this slime layer while keeping this protein intact," explain the authors.

For detailed study log on to https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-019-0495-2