The Gut Microbiota and Obesity: A Literature Review

Abstract

The microbes found in the human gut might play a larger role than one might expect. The gut microbiota are not only involved in the important metabolic processes that occur in the GI tract, but they also reflect a dynamic microbial composition that influences disease states and host health. Specifically of interest to this literature review is how obesity and the human gut microbiota are associated with one another. While the focus of this linkage would ideally be in humans as study organisms of interest, much of the literature utilizes murine models to gain a better understanding of the gut microbiota. This review considers a variety of papers that delve into aspects like species-specific patterns in the gut microbiota found in obese and lean phenotypes, how prebiotic/probiotic supplements might target the gut microbiota for therapeutic purposes, and the effects of conventionalization with a particular gut microbiota. Several papers explore the specific mechanisms and pathways through which the gut microbiota influence metabolic activity and ultimately host health and phenotype. Gut microbial shifts induced by dietary intervention are also utilized in several studies in order to better understand how the gut microbiota responds at a small scale and ultimately enacts larger changes in the host. This literature review will consider pioneering work, highly cited papers, and novel research on the gut microbiota and obesity as well as therapeutic approaches that target the gut microbiota.