A Review of the Role of Gut microbiome in Obesity

School of Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, Shaanxi 712100, China;

^* Corresponding author e-mail: zhang_muxin@nwafu.edu.cn

Abstract

Obesity has become a global epidemic during the last several years. In addition to genes, lifestyle, socioeconomic status, and other factors that mainly give rise to obesity, gut microbiome recently has aroused great concern for its pivotal role in obesity and host metabolism. A great number of studies have done to uncover the inner associations between gut microbiota and obesity. Among the commonly reported findings, the phylum of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes are highly related to excessive weight gain, with a higher ratio of F/B in obese subjects. In this review, we summarized some important studies focusing on the alteration and possible role of different bacterial taxa affecting obesity. We also discussed the diet effect on intestinal microbial community and potential molecular mechanisms of energy metabolism involved by gut microbiota.