PhD defence: Nutrition, the gut and the microbiome

Associations with obesity and metabolic markers of obesity-associated diseases

Louise Kjølbæk

PhD thesis

Obesity prevalence has nearly doubled between 1980 and 2014. Dietary modulation is one strategy to prevent and treat obesity and obesity-associated diseases but an optimal diet to improve weight loss maintenance has not reached consensus among experts. Furthermore, it has been observed that microbes in the gut are associated with obesity and obesity-associated diseases, and it may be relevant for future prevention and treatment of obesity.

In this PhD thesis it was investigated how nutrition including calcium, protein, fibre and polyunsaturated fatty acids affects the gut and the microbiome in relation to obesity and obesity-associated diseases.

The results showed that I) protein supplementation did not improve weight loss maintenance, compared to carbohydrate, II) calcium intake improved blood pressure and lipid profile (cholesterol) although a higher excretion of faecal fat was not observed, and III) fibre intake increased the abundance of the beneficial Bifidobacteria while the intake of polyunsaturated fatty acid did not alter the microbes in the gut.

2017, 227 pages.

Time

13 September 2017, 13:00

Place

Auditorium A2-70.03, Thorvaldsensvej 40, Frederiksberg

Opponents 

Professor Inge Tetens (chair), Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Professor Mikael Fogelholm, University of Helsinki, Finland.

Professor Knud Erik Bach Knudsen, Aarhus University, Denmark.

Supervisor

Associate Professor Lesli Hingstrup Larsen, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Co-supervisors

Professor Arne Astrup, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Associate Professor Lena Kirchner Brahe, Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.