title: Diet, Microbiota, Obesity, and NAFLD: A Dangerous Quartet.
abstract: Recently, the importance of the gut-liver-adipose tissue axis has become evident. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the hepatic disease of a systemic metabolic disorder that radiates from energy-surplus induced adiposopathy. The gut microbiota has tremendous influences in our whole-body metabolism, and is crucial for our well-being and health. Microorganisms precede humans in more than 400 million years and our guest flora evolved with us in order to help us face aggressor microorganisms, to help us maximize the energy that can be extracted from nutrients, and to produce essential nutrients/vitamins that we are not equipped to produce. However, our gut microbiota can be disturbed, dysbiota, and become itself a source of stress and injury. Dysbiota may adversely impact metabolism and immune responses favoring obesity and obesity-related disorders such as insulin resistance/diabetes mellitus and NAFLD. In this review, we will summarize the latest evidence of the role of microbiota/dysbiota in diet-induced obesity and NAFLD, as well as the potential therapeutic role of targeting the microbiota in this set.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Gastrenterologia, Hospital de Santa Maria, Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte (CHLN), 1649-035 Lisbon, Portugal. mverdelhomachado@gmail.com.|Laboratório de Nutrição, Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1649-004 Lisboa, Portugal. mverdelhomachado@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mariana Verdelho
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Gastrenterologia, Hospital de Santa Maria, Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte (CHLN), 1649-035 Lisbon, Portugal. hlcortezpinto@netcabo.pt.|Laboratório de Nutrição, Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1649-004 Lisboa, Portugal. hlcortezpinto@netcabo.pt.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cortez-Pinto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet; D006801:Humans; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology; D064307:Microbiota; D065626:Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D009765:Obesity / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D019936:Probiotics / Q000008:administration & dosage
keywords: diet; dysbiota; microbiota; nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; obesity; probiotics