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Review
. 2019 Nov 7;11(11):2690.
doi: 10.3390/nu11112690.

Gut Microbiota and Obesity: A Role for Probiotics

Ludovico Abenavoli  1 , Emidio Scarpellini  2 , Carmela Colica  3 , Luigi Boccuto  4   5 , Bahare Salehi  6 , Javad Sharifi-Rad  7 , Vincenzo Aiello  8 , Barbara Romano  9 , Antonino De Lorenzo  10 , Angelo A Izzo  9 , Raffaele Capasso  11
Affiliations
Review

Gut Microbiota and Obesity: A Role for Probiotics

Ludovico Abenavoli et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Nowadays, obesity is one of the most prevalent human health problems. Research from the last 30 years has clarified the role of the imbalance between energy intake and expenditure, unhealthy lifestyle, and genetic variability in the development of obesity. More recently, the composition and metabolic functions of gut microbiota have been proposed as being able to affect obesity development. Here, we will report the current knowledge on the definition, composition, and functions of intestinal microbiota. We have performed an extensive review of the literature, searching for the following keywords: metabolism, gut microbiota, dysbiosis, obesity. There is evidence for the association between gut bacteria and obesity both in infancy and in adults. There are several genetic, metabolic, and inflammatory pathophysiological mechanisms involved in the interplay between gut microbes and obesity. Microbial changes in the human gut can be considered a factor involved in obesity development in humans. The modulation of the bacterial strains in the digestive tract can help to reshape the metabolic profile in the human obese host as suggested by several data from animal and human studies. Thus, a deep revision of the evidence pertaining to the use probiotics, prebiotics, and antibiotics in obese patients is conceivable.

Keywords: dysbiosis; gut microbiota; metabolism; obesity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The Authors confirm that this article content has no conflict of interest.

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