Elsevier

Nutrition

Volume 29, Issue 4, April 2013, Pages 591-596
Nutrition

Review
Probiotics: Interaction with gut microbiome and antiobesity potential

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2012.07.017Get rights and content

Abstract

Obesity is a metabolic disorder afflicting people globally. There has been a pivotal advancement in the understanding of the intestinal microbiota composition and its implication in extraintestinal (metabolic) diseases. Therefore, any agent modulating gut microbiota may produce an influential effect in preventing the pathogenesis of disease. Probiotics are live microbes that, when administered in adequate amounts, have been shown to confer health benefits to the host. Over the years, probiotics have been a part of the human diet in the form of different fermented foods consumed around the world. Their influence on different physiologic functions in the host is increasingly being documented. The antiobesity potential of probiotics is also gaining wide attention because of increasing evidence of the role of gut microbiota in energy homeostasis and fat accumulation. Probiotics have also been shown to interact with the resident bacterial members already present in the gut by altering their properties, which may also affect the metabolic pathways involved in the regulation of fat metabolism. The underlying pathways governing the antiobesity effects of probiotics remain unclear. However, it is hoped that the evidence presented and discussed in this review will encourage and thus drive more extensive research in this field.

Introduction

The gut microbiota serves as an ecologic unit harboring 1014 bacteria [1], including up to 2000 species, and its diversity may shed light on the role of these different bacterial species in the maintenance of health and the development of disease. The advent of 16S rRNA based pyrosequencing has made a significant contribution to the current understanding of the gut microbiota over the past decade [2]. Collectively, the gut microbiota is considered a “virtual organ” and the organisms inhabiting it as a “superorganism” [3]. The physiologic functions attributed to gut microbiota have extended to the extraintestinal tissues, such as the liver, brain, and adipose tissue, constructing novel connections with obesity [4], [5], and its sister pathologies, such as type 2 diabetes [6] and atherosclerosis [7].

In general terms, obesity is disequilibrium of the energy balance, with energy intake exceeding energy expenditure. Mechanistically, it is a complex metabolic disorder disturbing the whole-body metabolism in a quest to accommodate the excess energy. Recently, obesity has been correlated with the altered ratio of two dominant microbial groups, Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes, in both rodents [8] and humans [9].

Because the gut microbiota is widely accepted as indispensable in healthy living, the development of therapeutics based on gut microbiota modulation has gained considerable momentum. There are some agents, such as antibiotics, probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics, that are endowed with the potential to alter the composition of gut microbiota. However, a new term, pharmabiotic, encompasses any form of therapeutic exploitation of the commensal flora, including the use of live probiotic bacteria, probiotic-derived biologically active metabolites, prebiotics, synbiotics, or genetically modified commensal bacteria [3]. This term has been introduced to widen the scope of these dietary components, whereby any element of these components has the ability to alter the gut microbiota composition.

Probiotics are the live micro-organisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, have been shown to confer health benefits to the host [10]. The growing competence in characterizing and harnessing the potential of these minute, short-lived, health promoting micro-organisms has added new dimensions to the understanding of their usefulness to humans. Although research has strengthened the role of probiotics as effective agents in altering gut microbiota balance, their contribution to the alleviation of chronic intestinal disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease, traveler’s diarrhea, colitis, Crohn’s disease, and antibiotic-associated diarrhea [11], [12], [13] is increasingly being documented. The hypocholesterolemic potential of probiotics has also been widely studied [14], [15], [16], [17], [18]. The antiobesity properties of probiotics, including their effects on body weight, adiposity, or food intake, are now being extensively explored. Furthermore, the possible cumulative effects of synbiotics (a combination of probiotics and, prebiotics-which are selectively fermented ingredients that allow specific changes in the composition and/or activity in the gastrointestinal microbiota that confer benefits on the host’s well-being and health) on weight management are also being investigated [19]. This review focuses on the interactions of probiotics with other gut microbiota members and their antiobesity potential through regulation of energy homeostasis.

Section snippets

Metabolic interactions between probiotics and gut microbiome: relation to energy derivation

Microbiome is the term used to collectively denote the total genome size of the gut microbiota, which exceeds the human nuclear genome by two orders of magnitude. A human acquires a microbiome from mother’s vaginal tract during birth. This microbiome eventually develops a mutualistic relation with the host [20]. Obesity is reported to be accompanied by the enrichment of a group of bacteria belonging to the Firmicutes, which purportedly derive energy in the form of short-chain fatty

Antiobesity potential of probiotics

With the startling increase in obesity and increasing evidence supporting the role of gut microbiota as an important element in the regulation of energy homeostasis and weight management [36], the studies discussed in this section unveil the potential of probiotics as antiobesity agents in experimental animals (Table 1) [37], [38], [39], [40], [41], [42], [43], [44], [45], [46], [47], [48], [49], [50].

The administration of L. rhamnosus PL60 in diet-induced obese mice resulted in a significant

Conclusion

The purpose of this review was to discuss, using the literature, the antiobesity potential of probiotics. The review also focused on the host–microbiome–probiotic interactions and their effect on the metabolic reactions that are involved in the regulation of energy homeostasis. Probiotics confer alterations in the properties of gut microbiota members, which range from their growth to their metabolism and use of nutrients; these alterations appear to influence glucose and fat metabolism in the

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