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Anorexia of ageing is common and important in the development of sarcopenia in older individuals. Links have been proposed between the gut microbiota and sarcopenia. Disordered gut function is also recognized in anorexia of ageing, but how this may relate to resident gut microbiota is unexplored. Understanding this relationship may provide a basis for novel interventions for anorexia of ageing and sarcopenia. This study explores compositional differences of the gut microbiota between community dwelling healthy older adults with good or poor appetite, and associated differences in sarcopenia.

We assessed appetite by the Simplified Nutritional Appetite Questionnaire (SNAQ) in members of the TwinsUK cohort aged ≥65 years. Using a pool of 776 individuals with existing microbiome data estimated from 16S rRNA sequencing data, we identified 102 cases (SNAQ score < 14) (95 …