OBINTER

Context

Although we live in an advanced society with access to a wide variety of foods, our lifestyles are, overall, relatively unhealthy. This affects both children and adults, with overweight and obesity representing one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive accumulation of body fat that may impair health. They are commonly assessed using the body mass index (BMI), which relates a person’s weight to their height. A high BMI is an important risk factor for non-communicable diseases, including:

• cardiovascular diseases, particularly heart disease and stroke;
• diabetes;
• musculoskeletal disorders, especially osteoarthritis, a highly disabling degenerative joint disease;
• certain types of cancer, including endometrial, breast, ovarian, prostate, liver, gallbladder, kidney and colon cancer.

Another important consideration is the high personal and economic cost associated with the obesity epidemic and its related comorbidities.

The Basque Autonomous Community is no exception to this problem. On average, 35.6% of the population is overweight (43% of men and 28.2% of women), while 12.8% has obesity (13.9% of men and 12.6% of women). Preventing overweight and obesity among the adult population is therefore a key priority for the Basque Country, helping to improve quality of life, support healthy population ageing and reduce healthcare costs.

The solution

Identifying a set of molecular biomarkers — which are not yet fully defined — while establishing personalised monitoring of individuals could help develop interventions with a measurable and lasting impact on the prevention and reduction of obesity in the Basque Country.

More specifically, the analysis of plasma membrane lipid profiles, circulating microRNA profiles and the gut microbiota, together with their correlations with other key, more conventional biomarkers specific to people with obesity, as well as their evolution and response to treatment, could provide an accurate characterisation of metabolic disorders.

At the same time, these analyses may reveal deficiencies in specific dietary nutrients. Understanding an individual’s molecular profile could therefore enable the design of personalised and potentially more effective interventions to address obesity.

Expected results

Successfully identifying the key parameters among the different molecular analyses assessed during a nutritional intervention will lead to the development of a prototype food-based solution. Based on a relatively simple and economically viable blood test and supported by a digital platform, such as a mobile app, the solution will help predict, identify and monitor metabolic alterations associated with obesity and related diseases.

In addition, studies examining associations and correlations between biochemical parameters and gut microbiota profiles in people with obesity will provide greater insight into how nutrients are used and metabolised within this target population. This will also help assess the effectiveness of personalised diets based on molecular parameters and the overall structure of the gut microbiota.

This approach represents a scientific and technological advance in the use of omics technologies, cellular structure studies and epigenetics to define personalised nutrition more precisely.

Finally, the feasibility of using less invasive biological samples than venous blood, such as saliva or a finger-prick blood sample, will also be explored. Computational tools will be used to develop algorithms that correlate the results obtained from these samples with those from more complex techniques, helping to facilitate the translation of these methodologies into commercial personalised nutrition kits.

Participants

Fundación Biofísica Bizkaia, BIOCRUCES, AZTI, VICOMTECH, UPV/EHU

Funding