Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Jul 7;27(25):3837-3850.
doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i25.3837.

Gut microbiota in obesity

Bing-Nan Liu  1 , Xiao-Tong Liu  1 , Zi-Han Liang  1 , Ji-Hui Wang  1
Affiliations
Review

Gut microbiota in obesity

Bing-Nan Liu et al. World J Gastroenterol. .

Abstract

Obesity is a major global health problem determined by heredity and environment, and its incidence is increasing yearly. In recent years, increasing evidence linking obesity to the gut microbiota has been reported. Gut microbiota management has become a new method of obesity treatment. However, the complex interactions among genetics, environment, the gut microbiota, and obesity remain poorly understood. In this review, we summarize the characteristics of the gut microbiota in obesity, the mechanism of obesity induced by the gut microbiota, and the influence of genetic and environmental factors on the gut microbiota and obesity to provide support for understanding the complex relationship between obesity and microbiota. At the same time, the prospect of obesity research related to the gut microbiota is proposed.

Keywords: Dysbiosis; Ecology; Genetics; Gut microbiota; Obesity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest for this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Gut microbiota and obesity. Both genetic and environmental factors can cause dysbiosis of the gut microbiota. Dysbiosis can increase energy absorption through changes in gene expression and excessive accumulation of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs); improve central appetite through gut-brain axis, gut hormones, and neuromodulators; regulate fat storage through transcription factors and lipoprotein lipase; cause chronic inflammation through regulation of inflammatory gene expression and lipopolysaccharide; and disrupt the circadian rhythum by affecting the circadian transcription factors, epigenetic modifications, and the synthesis of bile and SCFAs. These factors appear to increase susceptibility to obesity. The figure was created with BioRender.com. SCFA: Short-chain fatty acids; LPL: Lipoprotein lipase; LPS: Lipopolysaccharide.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. GBD 2015 Obesity Collaborators, Afshin A, Forouzanfar MH, Reitsma MB, Sur P, Estep K, Lee A, Marczak L, Mokdad AH, Moradi-Lakeh M, Naghavi M, Salama JS, Vos T, Abate KH, Abbafati C, Ahmed MB, Al-Aly Z, Alkerwi A, Al-Raddadi R, Amare AT, Amberbir A, Amegah AK, Amini E, Amrock SM, Anjana RM, Ärnlöv J, Asayesh H, Banerjee A, Barac A, Baye E, Bennett DA, Beyene AS, Biadgilign S, Biryukov S, Bjertness E, Boneya DJ, Campos-Nonato I, Carrero JJ, Cecilio P, Cercy K, Ciobanu LG, Cornaby L, Damtew SA, Dandona L, Dandona R, Dharmaratne SD, Duncan BB, Eshrati B, Esteghamati A, Feigin VL, Fernandes JC, Fürst T, Gebrehiwot TT, Gold A, Gona PN, Goto A, Habtewold TD, Hadush KT, Hafezi-Nejad N, Hay SI, Horino M, Islami F, Kamal R, Kasaeian A, Katikireddi SV, Kengne AP, Kesavachandran CN, Khader YS, Khang YH, Khubchandani J, Kim D, Kim YJ, Kinfu Y, Kosen S, Ku T, Defo BK, Kumar GA, Larson HJ, Leinsalu M, Liang X, Lim SS, Liu P, Lopez AD, Lozano R, Majeed A, Malekzadeh R, Malta DC, Mazidi M, McAlinden C, McGarvey ST, Mengistu DT, Mensah GA, Mensink GBM, Mezgebe HB, Mirrakhimov EM, Mueller UO, Noubiap JJ, Obermeyer CM, Ogbo FA, Owolabi MO, Patton GC, Pourmalek F, Qorbani M, Rafay A, Rai RK, Ranabhat CL, Reinig N, Safiri S, Salomon JA, Sanabria JR, Santos IS, Sartorius B, Sawhney M, Schmidhuber J, Schutte AE, Schmidt MI, Sepanlou SG, Shamsizadeh M, Sheikhbahaei S, Shin MJ, Shiri R, Shiue I, Roba HS, Silva DAS, Silverberg JI, Singh JA, Stranges S, Swaminathan S, Tabarés-Seisdedos R, Tadese F, Tedla BA, Tegegne BS, Terkawi AS, Thakur JS, Tonelli M, Topor-Madry R, Tyrovolas S, Ukwaja KN, Uthman OA, Vaezghasemi M, Vasankari T, Vlassov VV, Vollset SE, Weiderpass E, Werdecker A, Wesana J, Westerman R, Yano Y, Yonemoto N, Yonga G, Zaidi Z, Zenebe ZM, Zipkin B, Murray CJL. Health effects of overweight and obesity in 195 countries over 25 years. N Engl J Med. 2017;377:13–27. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kelly T, Yang W, Chen CS, Reynolds K, He J. Global burden of obesity in 2005 and projections to 2030. Int J Obes (Lond) 2008;32:1431–1437. - PubMed
    1. Saltiel AR, Olefsky JM. Inflammatory mechanisms linking obesity and metabolic disease. J Clin Invest. 2017;127:1–4. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bendor CD, Bardugo A, Pinhas-Hamiel O, Afek A, Twig G. Cardiovascular morbidity, diabetes and cancer risk among children and adolescents with severe obesity. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2020;19:79. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sonnenburg JL, Bäckhed F. Diet-microbiota interactions as moderators of human metabolism. Nature. 2016;535:56–64. - PMC - PubMed