Despite the multifactorial etiology of obesity, the attention of the scientific
community is now focused on the collection of microorganisms that inhabit the human
gut (the gut microbiota) and on their effects upon energy harvest and metabolic
signaling. The gut microbiota is involved in the pathophysiology of obesity and several
mechanisms are behind this association, e.g. increased capacity to extract energy from
undigested components of the diet, regulation of fat storage and fatty acid oxidation,
bile acids transformation, endocannabinoid system modulation and metabolic
endotoxemia. In this chapter, different therapeutic approaches (prebiotics, probiotics
and fecal microbiota transplants) designed to modulate the gut microbiota composition
towards better results and success rates in obesity management are reviewed and
summarized. In conclusion, the gut microbiota might represent a useful marker for
determining susceptibility to metabolic disease, as obesity, and be useful in disease
diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression.
Keywords: Dysbiosis, Fecal microbiota transplant, Gut, Metabolic syndrome,
Microbiome, Microbiota, Obesity, Prebiotics, Probiotics, Synbiotics.
