Research

Mixed

In overweight and obese individuals, higher intake of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) is associated with lower abundance of the genus Intestinimonas, whereas in lean individuals, SFAs are associated with higher abundance of the butyrate-producing genus Roseburia.

If you are lean, your gut bacteria may respond to saturated fats differently than if you are overweight or obese. Specifically, SFAs were linked to beneficial butyrate producers (Roseburia) in lean subjects, but to different taxa (Intestinimonas) in obese subjects. This suggests that dietary fat recommendations might need to be personalized based on current body composition and metabolic health rather than applying a one-size-fits-all restriction.

ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Saturated fatty acids (SFAs) were negatively associated with the genus Intestinimonas, a biomarker of the overweight/obese group, whereas SFAs were positively associated with Roseburia, a biomarker for the lean group.
Judit Companys et al. · Nutrients · 2021

Why this rating

The study is a cross-sectional observational study with a moderate sample size (n=128), establishing association but not causation.

Source

Gut Microbiota Profile and Its Association with Clinical Variables and Dietary Intake in Overweight/Obese and Lean Subjects: A Cross-Sectional Study

Judit Companys et al. · Nutrients · 2021

DOI 10.3390/nu13062032

cross_sectional · n=128Cited 204×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →