Abstract
Obesity is currently a pandemic of worldwide proportions affecting millions of people. Recent studies have proposed the hypothesis that mechanisms not directly related to the human genome could be involved in the genesis of obesity, due to the fact that, when a population undergoes the same nutritional stress, not all individuals present weight gain related to the diet or become hyperglycemic. The human intestine is colonized by millions of bacteria which form the intestinal flora, known as gut flora. Studies show that lean and overweight human may present a difference in the composition of their intestinal flora; these studies suggest that the intestinal flora could be involved in the development of obesity. Several mechanisms explain the correlation between intestinal flora and obesity. The intestinal flora would increase the energetic extraction of non-digestible polysaccharides. In addition, the lipopolysaccharide from intestinal flora bacteria could trigger a chronic sub-clinical inflammatory process, leading to obesity and diabetes. Another mechanism through which the intestinal flora could lead to obesity would be through the regulation of genes of the host involved in energy storage and expenditure. In the past five years data coming from different sources established causal effects between intestinal microbiota and obesity/insulin resistance, and it is clear that this area will open new avenues of therapeutic to obesity, insulin resistance and DM2.
Highlights
I n recent years, the prevalence of obesity has increased rapidly throughout the World [1,2]
Recent studies have suggested that mechanisms not directly related to the human genome could be involved in the genesis of obesity, due to the fact that, when a determined population undergoes similar nutritional stress, not all individuals become hyperglycemic or present diet-related weight gain [5,6,7]
We review the potential role of the intestinal flora in the development of obesity
Summary
I n recent years, the prevalence of obesity has increased rapidly throughout the World [1,2]. A study by Turnbaugh and cols., highlighted that germ-free mice colonized with the gut flora from obese mice, presented a higher increase in body fat than when they were colonized with the flora from lean animals [33]. Highlighted the gut flora imbalance of ob/ob mice compared to that of lean mice in another study, observing a relative increase of 50% of Firmicutes and a decrease of 50% of Bacteroidetes in ob/ob mice [34] (Figure 3) These same investigators demonstrated that obese individuals presented an intestinal flora with a lower proportion of Bacteroidetes than lean persons [35]. In a recent study, Backhed and cols. highlighted that control animals compared to germ-free mice, presented
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