Obesity is a disease with a complex etiology and variable prevalence across different populations. While several studies have reported gut microbiota composition differences associated with obesity in humans, there has been a lack of consistency in the nature of the reported changes; it has been difficult to determine whether methodological differences between studies, underlying differences in the populations studied, or other factors are responsible for this discordance. Here we use 16 S rRNA data from previously published studies to explore how the gut microbiota-obesity relationship varies across heterogeneous Western populations, focusing mainly on the relationship between (1) alpha diversity and (2) Prevotella relative abundance with BMI. We provide evidence that the relationship between lower alpha diversity and higher BMI may be most consistent in non-Hispanic white (NHW) populations and/or those with high socioeconomic status, while the relationship between higher Prevotella relative abundance and BMI may be stronger among black and Hispanic populations. We further examine how diet may impact these relationships. This work suggests that gut microbiota phenotypes of obesity may differ with race/ethnicity or its correlates, such as dietary components or socioeconomic status. However, microbiome cohorts are often too small to study complex interaction effects and non-white individuals are greatly underrepresented, creating substantial challenges to understanding population-level patterns in the microbiome-obesity relationship. Further study of how population heterogeneity influences the relationship between the gut microbiota and obesity is warranted.
Keywords: Microbial communities; Microbiota.