Background

The fungal community of the gastrointestinal tract has recently become of interest, and knowledge of its relationship with the development of obesity is scarce. The present study aimed to evaluate the cultivable fungal fraction from the microbiota and to analyze its relationship with obesity.

Methods

Samples were taken from 99 participants with normal weight, overweight and obesity (n = 31, 34 and 34, respectively) and were cultivated in selective medium, and the cultivable yeasts were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Anthropometric and biochemical measures were also evaluated.

Results

Eutrophic, overweight and obese groups presented concentrations of 1.6, 2.16 and 2.19 log10 colony-forming units g–1 yeast, respectively. Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were the two identified phyla. At the genus level, Candida spp. showed a relatively high prevalence, and 10 different species were detected: Candida glabrata, Candida orthopsilosis, Candida lambica, Candida kefyr, Candida albicans, Candida krusei, Candida valida, Candida parapsilosis, Candida utilis and Candida humilis (with relative abundances of 71.72%, 5.05%, 21.21%, 6.06%, 29.29%, 27.27%, 8.08%, 16.16%, 1.01% and 2.02%, respectively).

Conclusions

The obese group presented a higher prevalence of Candida albicans. Furthermore, Candida albicans, Candida kefyr and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa showed a high positive correlation with obesity, weight gain and fat mass and showed a negative correlation with high-density lipoprotein and lean mass, parameters related to weight loss.