Obesity is an emerging global epidemic with profound challenges to world health care economies and societies. Traditional approaches to fighting obesity have not shown promise in promoting a decline in obesity prevalence. The gut microbiota is becoming widely appreciated for its role in regulating metabolism and thus represents a target for new therapies to combat obesity and associated comorbidities. This article provides an overview of altered microbial community structure in obesity, dietary impact on the gut microbiota, host-microbe interactions contributing to the disease, and improvements in microbial assemblage after bariatric surgery and with therapies targeting the gut microbiome.
Key points
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Shifts in the gut microbiome are inseparably associated with the development of obesity and comorbidities.
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Transfer of dysbiotic microbial communities confers disease phenotypes in recipients, supporting a central role for microbe-mediated regulation of metabolism.
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Bariatric surgery, the most effective treatment of morbid obesity, results in rapid changes in the gut microbiota, with concurrent improvements in metabolic parameters.
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Deeper understanding of host-microbe interactions may hold promise in the treatment of obesity, which remains a global epidemic.
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