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Review
. 2023 Oct 15;14(10):1502-1513.
doi: 10.4239/wjd.v14.i10.1502.

Gut microbiome supplementation as therapy for metabolic syndrome

Affiliations
Review

Gut microbiome supplementation as therapy for metabolic syndrome

Mc Anto Antony et al. World J Diabetes. .

Abstract

The gut microbiome is defined as an ecological community of commensal symbiotic and pathogenic microorganisms that exist in our body. Gut microbiome dysbiosis is a condition of dysregulated and disrupted intestinal bacterial homeostasis, and recent evidence has shown that dysbiosis is related to chronic inflammation, insulin resistance, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and obesity. It is well known that obesity, T2DM and CVD are caused or worsened by multiple factors like genetic predisposition, environmental factors, unhealthy high calorie diets, and sedentary lifestyle. However, recent evidence from human and mouse models suggest that the gut microbiome is also an active player in the modulation of metabolic syndrome, a set of risk factors including obesity, hyperglycemia, and dyslipidemia that increase the risk for CVD, T2DM, and other diseases. Current research aims to identify treatments to increase the number of beneficial microbiota in the gut microbiome in order to modulate metabolic syndrome by reducing chronic inflammation and insulin resistance. There is increasing interest in supplements, classified as prebiotics, probiotics, synbiotics, or postbiotics, and their effect on the gut microbiome and metabolic syndrome. In this review article, we have summarized current research on these supplements that are available to improve the abundance of beneficial gut microbiota and to reduce the harmful ones in patients with metabolic syndrome.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; Gut dysbiosis; Metabolic syndrome; Postbiotics; Prebiotics; Probiotics.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have nothing to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The overall beneficial effects of gut microbiome supplementation on metabolic syndrome. FOS: Fructooligosaccharides; GOS: Galactooligosaccharides; SCFAs: Short Chain Fatty Acids.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The beneficial effects of prebiotics on metabolic syndrome. FOS: Fructooligosaccharides; GOS: Galactooligosaccharides; SCFAs: Short Chain Fatty Acids.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The beneficial effects of postbiotics on metabolic syndrome. Treg: Regulatory T cell; SCFAs: Short Chain Fatty Acids.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The beneficial effects of probiotics on metabolic syndrome. SCFAs: Short Chain Fatty Acids.

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