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Profile of the gut microbiota of adults with obesity: a systematic review

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 74, pages 1251–1262 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Recently, relationship between gut microbiota composition and development of obesity has been pointed. However, the gut microbiota composition of individual with obesity is not known yet. Therefore, this systematic review aimed to evaluate differences in profile of gut microbiota between individuals with obesity and individuals with normal weight. A search performed on August 2019 in the databases Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane library, Lilacs and gray literature using the terms: “microbiota”, “microbiome”, “obesity”, “obesity morbid”, and “humans”. Studies assessing the gut microbiota composition in adults with obesity and lean were included. Quality assessment was performed by Newcastle–Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale. Of the 12,496 studies, 32 were eligible and included in this review. Individuals with obesity have a greater Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio, Firmicutes, Fusobacteria, Proteobacteria, Mollicutes, Lactobacillus (reuteri), and less Verrucomicrobia (Akkermansia muciniphila), Faecalibacterium (prausnitzii), Bacteroidetes, Methanobrevibacter smithii, Lactobacillus plantarum and paracasei. In addition, some bacteria had positive correlation and others negative correlation with obesity. Individuals with obesity showed profile of gut microbiota different than individual lean. These results may help in advances of the diagnosis and treatment of obesity.

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Funding

This research was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES)—Finance code 001, and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Faperj). The funders were not involved in the design until publication of study.

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  1. Instituto de Nutrição Josué de Castro, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Louise Crovesy & Eliane Lopes Rosado

  2. Library of Health Sciences Center, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Daniele Masterson

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  1. Louise Crovesy
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LC and ELR: conceived and design of the study; LC and DM: protocol of search and acquisition of data; LC: drafting the article; All authors: revised and approval of the version to be submitted.

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Correspondence to Louise Crovesy.

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Crovesy, L., Masterson, D. & Rosado, E.L. Profile of the gut microbiota of adults with obesity: a systematic review. Eur J Clin Nutr 74, 1251–1262 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-020-0607-6

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