Table 1.

Participant Characteristics and Fecal Short Chain Fatty Acids by Site and Weight Category: METS-Microbiome cohort (N = 100). Reference group is lean Ghanaian, *p < 0.05 **p < 0.01.

	Ghana		USA
	Lean (N = 29)	Obese (N = 21)	Lean (N = 13)	Obese (N = 37)
Age (y)	34.6 ± 6.8	35.7 ± 6.1	36.9 ± 8.0	36.7 ± 5.8
Weight (kg)	55.4 ± 5.8	86.2 ± 12.0**	63.6 ± 6.2	110.1 ± 20.0**
Height (cm)	159.8 ± 6.8	157.7 ± 6.2	167.2 ± 5.9*	163.1 ± 7.1**
Body Mass Index (kg/m2)	21.7 ± 2.0	34.8 ± 5.6**	22.8 ± 2.0	41.4 ± 7.0**
Fat-free Mass (kg)	38.3 ± 5.3	49.5 ± 5.1**	42.2 ± 5.4	54.8 ± 6.9**
Fat Mass (kg)	17.1 ± 4.1	36.7 ± 9.6**	22.0 ± 6.1	55.3 ± 15.2**
%Body Fat	30.8 ± 6.4	42.1 ± 5.7**	34.0 ± 9.0	49.5 ± 6.4**
Plasma Glucose (mg/dL)	104.1 ± 13.0	96.4 ± 10.9	112.8 ± 79.7	111.7 ± 40.8
Diabetes, N (%)	1 (3.5)	0	1 (7.7)	8 (21.6)
Hypertension, N (%)	1 (3.5)	1 (4.8)	1 (7.7)	12 (32.4)*
% Energy from protein	10.9 ± 3.4	13.5 ± 3.8*	16.6 ± 3.8**	15.9 ± 4.1**
% Energy from carbohydrate	65.2 ± 9.6	62.4 ± 10.5	41.8 ± 7.9**	45.7 ± 8.7**
% Energy from fat	24.0 ± 9.8	23.9 ± 7.8	40.6 ± 5.6**	38.0 ± 6.3**
Starch (g/day)	183.6 ± 50.7	186.0 ± 51.4	105.2 ± 47.5**	103.4 ± 53.2**
Fiber (g/day)	23.2 ± 6.2	22.7 ± 8.4	15.6 ± 5.9**	14.3 ± 7.3**
Insoluble Fiber (g/day)	17.5 ± 4.9	17.4 ± 6.0	10.5 ± 4.4**	9.7 ± 5.4**
Pectin (g/day)	5.1 ± 1.9	4.8 ± 1.4	2.4 ± 1.5**	1.8 ± 1.3**
Fecal formic Acid (µg/ml)	0.14 ± 0.14	0.20 ± 0.23	0.13 ± 0.03	0.16 ± 0.07
Fecal acetic acid (µg/ml)	2.08 ± 0.73	2.12 ± 0.44	1.39 ± 0.53**	1.60 ± 0.74**
Fecal propionic acid (µg/ml)	1.11 ± 0.70	1.28 ± 0.49	0.54 ± 0.22**	0.71 ± 0.43**
Fecal butyric acid (µg/ml)	1.65 ± 0.89	1.79 ± 0.80	0.85 ± 0.57**	1.18 ± 0.92*
Fecal isovaleric Acid (µg/ml)	0.12 ± 0.06	0.09 ± 0.04	0.11 ± 0.03	0.10 ± 0.07
Total fecal SCFA(µg/ml)	5.09 ± 2.19	5.48 ± 1.35	3.01 ± 1.13**	3.76 ± 1.94**
Total SCFA (µg/ml/kg body weight)	0.07 ± 0.04	0.06 ± 0.02**	0.05 ± 0.02**	0.03 ± 0.02**
Total fecal SCFA (µg/ml/kg body weight, adjusted for total energy and fiber intake)	0.09 ± 0.003	0.07 ± 0.004**	0.05 ± 0.006**	0.03 ± 0.005**