[Gut microbiota, responsible for our body weight?]

Abstract

Obesity is a multifactorial disease and often considered as an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. However, the gut microbiota could have an impact on the development of excess body weight. According to the type of diet, this black box of the bowel could contribute to modifications of both the caloric extraction and the energy expenditure. The gut microbiota is linked with intermediary metabolism and inflammation, and could be involved in physiopathogenesis of type 1 and 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity. Fiber enriched diet and Mediterranean type of diet could induce gut microbiota modifications with consecutive weight loss and improvement of both metabolic syndrome and diabetes.