The Gut Microbiome Profile in Obesity: A Systematic Review
Open accessAbstract
Gut microbiome has been identified in the past decade as an important factor involved in obesity, but the magnitude of its contribution to obesity and its related comorbidities is still uncertain. Among the vast quantity of factors attributed to obesity, environmental, dietary, lifestyle, genetic, and others, the microbiome has aroused curiosity, and the scientific community has published many original articles. Most of the studies related to microbiome and obesity have been reported based on the associations between microbiota and obesity, and the in-depth study of the mechanisms related has been studied mainly in rodents and exceptionally in humans. Due to the quantity and diverse information published, the need of reviews is mandatory to recapitulate the relevant achievements. In this systematic review, we provide an overview of the current evidence on the association between intestinal microbiota and obesity. Additionally, we analyze the effects of an extreme weight loss intervention such as bariatric surgery on gut microbiota. The review is divided into 2 sections: first, the association of obesity and related metabolic disorders with different gut microbiome profiles, including metagenomics studies, and second, changes on gut microbiome after an extreme weight loss intervention such as bariatric surgery.
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There is a strong relationship between changes in the Firmicutes:Bacteroidetes ratio and obesity.
“Other findings have reported a strong relationship between changes in Firmicutes:Bacteroidetes ratio and obesity (Castaner et al., 2018).”
From The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis (2019) · cites this paper as Castaner et al., 2018
The Results (§3.1) report studies finding a higher Firmicutes:Bacteroidetes ratio in obese people, which supports an association. But the same section reports an analysis finding no significant association at the phylum level, and the Discussion (§4) emphasizes substantial variation between studies. Calling the relationship strong overstates the review’s mixed findings. (LLM, conf=0.87)
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- Authors
- Castaner, O., Goday, A., Park, Y.-M., Lee, S.-H., Magkos, F., Shiow, S.-A. T. E., & Schröder, H.
- Affiliations
- Cardiovascular Risk and Nutrition Research Group, Hospital del Mar Research Institute (IMIM), Barcelona, Spain
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES)
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (US)
- The Catholic University of Korea Seoul St. Mary's Hospital (KR)
- Agency for Science, Technology and Research (SG)
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- Municipal Institute for Medical Research (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Schröder, Helmut
- Venue
- International Journal of Endocrinology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2018
- Volume
- 2018
- Pages
- 1-9
- ISSN
- 1687-8337 (ISSN-L)
- 1687-8345
- PMC
- PMC5933040
- OpenAlex
- W2790152383
- Cited by
- 570
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 48 · 2023: 65 · 2022: 80 · 2021: 127 · 2020: 115 · 2019: 67 · 2018: 10
- FWCI
- 7.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- International Journal of Endocrinology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RECERCAT (Consorci de Serveis Universitaris de Catalunya) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Repositori digital de la UPF (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- National University of Singapore (submittedVersion)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Instituto de Salud Carlos III (JR14/0008, JR17/00022)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Adipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic Diseases
- Health Sciences › Dentistry › Periodontics › Oral microbiology and periodontitis research
- Keywords
- gut microbiota, obesity, bariatric surgery, weight loss, metabolic disorders, metagenomics, obesity-related comorbidities
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