Glucose, Brain and Microbiota

The accumulation of iron is known to affect the functions of the liver, adipose tissue and muscle. The brain is a well-known place of iron deposition, which is associated with cognitive parameters of subjects with obesity. The hypothesis is that certain parameters related to glucose metabolism (glycemic variability, the circulating concentration of AGE receptor agonists, pentosidine and HbA1c) are associated with cognitive function, brain iron content and gut microbiota composition in subjects with obesity. The study includes both a cross-sectional (comparison of subjects with and without obesity) and a longitudinal design (evaluation one year after weight loss induced by bariatric surgery or by diet in patient with obesity) to evaluate the associations between continuous glucose monitoring, brain iron content (by magnetic resonance), cognitive function (by means of cognitive tests), physical activity (measured by activity and sleep tracker device) and the composition of the microbiota, evaluated by metagenomics.