title: The Gut Microbiota: The Gateway to Improved Metabolism.
abstract: Obesity is an emerging global epidemic with profound challenges to world health care economies and societies. Traditional approaches to fighting obesity have not shown promise in promoting a decline in obesity prevalence. The gut microbiota is becoming widely appreciated for its role in regulating metabolism and thus represents a target for new therapies to combat obesity and associated comorbidities. This article provides an overview of altered microbial community structure in obesity, dietary impact on the gut microbiota, host-microbe interactions contributing to the disease, and improvements in microbial assemblage after bariatric surgery and with therapies targeting the gut microbiome.
authors.affiliation: Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
authors.forename: Kristina B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.affiliation: Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Pierre
authors.affiliation: Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery, University of Chicago, Room 9130, 900 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. Electronic address: echang@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu.
authors.forename: Eugene B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D050110:Bariatric Surgery; D004032:Diet; D000069467:Fecal Microbiota Transplantation; D000069196:Gastrointestinal Microbiome / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000628:therapy; D056692:Prebiotics; D019936:Probiotics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D056692:Prebiotics
keywords: Bariatric surgery; Enteroendocrine hormones; Lipid absorption; Metabolism; Microbiota; Prebiotics; Probiotics; Synbiotics