Doctor Explains Why Your Gut Microbes May Be Driving Visceral Fat, Not Your Weight
In a Nutshell
A new study found two gut bacteria—Dorea longicatina and Bifidobacterium adolescentis—directly drive visceral fat accumulation independent of total body weight. In mice, adding these microbes caused measurable increases in visceral fat, liver fat, and weight gain through a microbial glycogen pathway that promotes fat synthesis. The findings suggest visceral fat risk depends more on microbiome composition than calories or BMI, with low microbial diversity and high fructose intake identified as key aggravating factors.
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
A recent study published September 10th in the Experimental and Molecular Medicine Journal identified two specific microbial species associated with visceral fat in humans. The study examined 1,700 ostensibly healthy Korean males who appeared lean from the outside but underwent CT scans revealing varying amounts of visceral fat. Researchers performed shotgun metagenomic testing to identify microbial associations with visceral fat rather than overall body weight.
The study design included two arms: human observational data showing associations between specific microbes and visceral fat, followed by experimental transfer of these microbes into mice to demonstrate causation. This approach was necessary because ethical constraints prevent researchers from intentionally introducing potentially harmful microbes into human subjects.
The conventional view of obesity focuses on calories, body mass index, and total weight. This study challenges that perspective by asking whether the gut microbiome is associated not simply with how heavy someone is, but with where they store fat, particularly visceral fat. Visceral fat is biologically very different from subcutaneous fat, making this distinction clinically significant.
The study found that people with identical body mass index values can have profoundly different biology. One person can be profoundly diseased while another with the same BMI can be profoundly healthy, demonstrating that location and quality of fat matter more than numbers on a scale or BMI calculations.
Two specific organisms emerged as significantly associated with visceral fat accumulation. Dorea longicatina correlated with higher visceral fat, elevated waist circumference, lower HDL cholesterol, and higher triglycerides. Bifidobacterium adolescentis was also associated with increased visceral fat, which is surprising given that Bifidobacterium species are generally considered beneficial.
This finding illustrates that microbiome health cannot be understood simply at the genus level. Species, strain, and ecological context in which microbes exist matter significantly. The same genus can contain strains that function very differently in different metabolic contexts.
Higher visceral fat was associated with lower microbial alpha diversity. Individuals with more visceral fat had less diverse microbial ecosystems, comparable to an abandoned lot with only weeds rather than a diverse African savanna or Amazonian rainforest. This suggests the importance of considering the entire microbial environment rather than focusing solely on individual species.
Shotgun metagenomics identified a microbial glycogen synthesis pathway associated with D. longicatina and visceral fat. This pathway involves bacterial handling of glucose and storage as glycogen. The investigators proposed a model where the microbial ecosystem favors a metabolic environment characterized by glucose leading to storage pathways, subsequently leading to liver fat and lipid synthesis.
This pathway was connected to increased expression of three important liver genes: fatty acid synthase, acetyl-CoA carboxylase, and glucokinase. All three genes point toward greater glucose utilization and de novo generation of fat in the liver.
Researchers reduced existing microbiomes in three groups of mice using antibiotics to create detectable changes. One group received D. longicatina, another received B. adolescentis, and a third served as a control group. Both organisms produced significantly greater weight gain and specifically increased visceral fat depots in the mice.
The added weight was driven by increased visceral fat rather than lean mass. Mice receiving these organisms also showed higher levels of leptin and increased liver weight, suggesting fat accumulation within the liver. The D. longicatina group demonstrated increased expression of the liver genes associated with fatty liver disease.
Adding a single organism changed the entire microbiome composition. The whole ecosystem was altered, not just the presence of one species. Microbial diversity fell, and the organisms formed networks with other obesity-associated microbes previously identified in other studies as linked to disease states.
This suggests certain microbes may behave like keystone ecological organisms, where one player can change the entire neighborhood. The relationship between microbiome and visceral fat appears bidirectional: the microbiome causes visceral fat adiposity, and visceral fat adiposity causes changes in the microbiome.
The investigators acknowledged that the human portion of the study showed only association, not causation. While causation was demonstrated in the rodent model, definitive conclusions about these microbes causing visceral fat in humans cannot be made from this data alone.
The Korean males studied had low subcutaneous fat and higher visceral fat. D. longicatina and B. adolescentis were associated in other studies with higher carbohydrate and fructose consumption.
Anecdotal observations of fruitarians and carnivores eating fruit and honey show they lose subcutaneous fat, develop gaunt facial appearances, and lose subcutaneous fat on their arms while developing significant visceral fat internally. DEXA scans can be misleading because they average fat together, potentially showing low visceral fat when significant internal fat exists alongside minimal external fat.
Fructose consumption is associated with higher visceral adiposity and lower subcutaneous fat in other studies. Recommendations include avoiding fruit and honey unless fermented until no longer sweet, eating fermented foods, and avoiding processed foods.
Akkermansia muciniphila was identified as beneficial and negatively associated with visceral fat. Notably, even dead particles of this microbe have biological effects, not requiring live organisms to provide benefit. This is available as a supplement without any commercial affiliation.
Not all microbes are harmful. While some bacteria are pathogenic, many are beneficial and essential for health. The microbiome should not be viewed through a simplistic good-versus-bad bacteria framework, but rather understood through the lens of species, strain, and ecological context.
The current administration's nutritional guidelines represent the first time the U.S. government has recommended attention to the microbiome and fermented foods in 250 years.
Skin thinning occurs with depletion of subcutaneous fat. Bodybuilders lose all their fat particularly in subcutaneous compartments, resulting in prominent veins with a shrink-wrapping appearance. However, bodybuilders do not have straight veins—their veins are tortuous.
The same tortuous vein pattern occurs in people eating large amounts of fruit and honey. A 49-year-old who consumes significant fruit and honey shows tortuous veins, while a 63-year-old demonstrates larger veins with more fat and thicker skin.
MRI scans reveal preservation of subcutaneous fat in certain body types. Adiponectin (A-D-I-P-O-N-E-C-T-I-N) is a molecule stored in superficial skin and subcutaneous fat, associated with healthier skin, slower aging, and lower disease amounts. Subcutaneous fat should be maintained rather than depleted through excessive fruit and honey consumption.
No studies have been identified examining acromansia (likely Akkermansia) specifically for Parkinson's involvement. The first Parkinson's patient is expected to arrive for consultation in Naples, Florida. Parkinson's origins are believed to begin within the gut microbiome, consistent with Hippocrates' statement that all disease begins in the gut.
Supplements are recommended but not sold directly—clients must source them independently. Beneficial supplements include lithium orotate, lithium aspartate, and NAC (N-acetylcysteine). Magnesium and electrolytes are considered very important because effective fat mobilization requires additional electrolytes, which ancestors obtained from nutrient-rich water tables that are deficient in modern water sources.
A German Shepherd bite required Amoxicillin Clavulanate (Augmentin) treatment. This broad-spectrum antibiotic disrupts a microbiome built over a year through fermented foods. Postbiotics available in fermented foods serve as the opposite of antibiotics. Probiotics are available even in supplement form for microbiome optimization.
The microbiome should be viewed as a garden to cultivate. One-on-one work involves teaching clients how to garden, creating an "African safari and Amazonian rainforest" microbiome. Results include elimination of spider veins, correction of erectile dysfunction, increased hair thickness on top of head with baldness reversal, reduction of telangiectasia, changes in cutaneous expressions, wider-appearing eyes, changes in type four stool, and green-colored urine.
These unique client outcomes result from microbiome manipulation and visceral fat removal. No other practitioners observe these changes because they do not address visceral fat, keeping clients at suboptimal levels.
White rice was acceptable 20,000 years ago before microbiome changes occurred. Current recommendation for individuals with visceral fat or metabolic dysfunction is to avoid white rice entirely. The diet should consist of fat, protein, and fermented foods. Rice becomes a concentrated sugar source for pathogenic microbes in compromised microbiomes.
Reintroduction of rice becomes possible only after achieving an optimized microbiome, limited to twice weekly. Asians were historically thin, but obesity is now epidemic in China, Vietnam, South Korea, and Thailand due to sharing of American microbiome through airline traffic, spreading obesogenic microbes.
For individuals with significant distance to achieve running capability: walking, sprint swimming (hard and fast swimming for short periods in a pool), and stationary bicycling are recommended as beneficial activities.
The study demonstrated association of two particular species with visceral fat in humans and causation of visceral fat in mice. Website resources available at growingbetternotolder.com. Twice-weekly live programs offered Tuesday and Saturday nights through the Alpha Maker community. One-on-one work available at drshawnomara.com, with particular focus on business owners, executives, politicians, US senators, governors, and cabinet members.
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