Nutritional modulation of gut microbiota in the context of obesity and insulin resistance: Potential interest of prebiotics

Obesity in humans leads to changes in the composition of gut microbiota, some of those changes being reversed upon dieting and changes in dietary habits. The studies devoted to understand how gut microbes control host energy homeostasis are of interest, in order to estimate how specific nutrients that induce changes in gut microbiota composition and/or activity - such as prebiotics - could be relevant in the management of obesity and related disorders. This review presents the potential molecular mechanisms allowing the gut microbiota to control host energy homeostasis, and presents the potential mechanisms evoked in the improvement of obesity by colonic nutrients that target the gut microbiota. It also discusses the relevance of this new area of research in human nutrition and health. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.