Differences in immune status and fecal SCFA between Indonesian stunted children and children with normal nutritional status

Ingrid S Surono; Fasli Jalal; Syukrini Bahri; Andreas Romulo; Pratiwi Dyah Kusumo; Erida Manalu; Yusnita; Koen Venema

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0254300

Differences in immune status and fecal SCFA between Indonesian stunted children and children with normal nutritional status

PLoS One. 2021 Jul 29;16(7):e0254300. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254300. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Ingrid S Surono¹, Fasli Jalal², Syukrini Bahri³, Andreas Romulo¹, Pratiwi Dyah Kusumo⁴, Erida Manalu⁴, Yusnita², Koen Venema⁵

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Engineering, Food Technology Department, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia.
² Faculty of Medicine, Department of Nutrition, YARSI University, Jakarta, Indonesia.
³ Faculty of Medicine, Clinical Pathology Department, YARSI University, Jakarta, Indonesia.
⁴ Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Kristen Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
⁵ Centre for Healthy Eating & Food Innovation, Maastricht University-Campus Venlo, Venlo, The Netherlands.

Abstract

We recently showed that the gut microbiota composition of stunted children was different from that of children with normal nutritional status. Here, we compared immune status and fecal microbial metabolite concentrations between stunted and normal children, and we correlated macronutrient intake (including energy), metabolites and immune status to microbiota composition. The results show that macronutrient intake was lower in stunted children for all components, but after correction for multiple comparison significant only for energy and fat. Only TGF-β was significantly different between stunted children and children of normal nutritional status after correction for multiple comparisons. TNF-alpha, IL-10, lipopolysaccharide binding protein in serum and secretory IgA in feces were not significantly different. Strikingly, all the individual short-chain and branched-chain fatty acids were higher in fecal samples of stunted children (significant for acetate, valerate and total SCFA). These metabolites correlated with a number of different microbial taxa, but due to extensive cross-feeding between microbes, did not show a specific pattern. However, the energy-loss due to higher excretion in stunted children of these metabolites, which can be used as substrate for the host, is striking. Several microbial taxa also correlated to the intake of macronutrients (including dietary fibre) and energy. Eisenbergiella positively correlated with all macronutrients, while an uncharacterized genus within the Succinivibrionaceae family negatively correlated with all macronutrients. These, and the other correlations observed, may provide indication on how to modulate the gut microbiota of stunted children such that their growth lag can be corrected. Trail registered at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04698759.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Child
Feces*
Gastrointestinal Microbiome
Humans
Indonesia
Male
Nutritional Status*

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT04698759

Grants and funding

The study was funded by a) Research and Technology Transfer Office, Bina Nusantara University as a part of Bina Nusantara University’s International Research Grant entitled “Korelasi Profil Mikrobiota, Status Imun dan Inflammasi Anak Balita Normal dan Stunting” (Correlation of Microbiota Profile, Immune Status and Inflammation of Normal and Stunted Toddlers) with contract number: No.026/VR.RTT/IV/2020 and contract date: 6 April 2020 (ISS and AR); b) the Centre for Healthy Eating & Food Innovation (HEFI) of Maastricht University – campus Venlo, which has been made possible with the support of the Dutch Province of Limburg (KV); c) YARSI University (FJ, SB and Y); and d) Universitas Kristen Indonesia (PDK and EM). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.