title: Probiotics in prevention and treatment of obesity: a critical view.
abstract: The worldwide prevalence of obesity more than doubled between 1980 and 2014. The obesity pandemic is tightly linked to an increase in energy availability, sedentariness and greater control of ambient temperature that have paralleled the socioeconomic development of the past decades. The most frequent cause which leads to the obesity development is a dysbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. The gut microbiota as an environmental factor which influence whole-body metabolism by affecting energy balance but also inflammation and gut barrier function, integrate peripheral and central food intake regulatory signals and thereby increase body weight. Probiotics have physiologic functions that contribute to the health of gut microbiota, can affect food intake and appetite, body weight and composition and metabolic functions through gastrointestinal pathways and modulation of the gut bacterial community.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, A. Gemelli Medical School, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Nazarii
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kobyliak
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, A. Gemelli Medical School, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Conte
authors.affiliation: Division of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, A. Gemelli Medical School, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cammarota
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX USA ; University of Texas Imaging Research Center, Austin, TX USA.
authors.forename: Andreana P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Haley
authors.affiliation: Institute of Geotechnics, Department of Biotechnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Kosice, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Styriak
authors.affiliation: 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Comenius University and University Hospital, Mickiewiczova 13, 813 69 Bratislava, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Ludovit
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gaspar
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Studies, University of Pardubice, Pardubice, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jozef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fusek
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Central University Hospital of Asturias (HUCA), Oviedo, Spain.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rodrigo
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Central University Hospital of Asturias (HUCA), Oviedo, Spain ; 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Pekarska 53, 656 91 Brno, Czech Republic ; Laboratory of Structural Biology and Proteomics, Central Laboratories, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kruzliak
keywords: Gut microbiota; Intestinal microflora; Obesity; Prevention; Probiotics; Treatment