Workshop speakers in the spotlight: Nathalie Delzenne and Antonio Gasbarrini

Prof. Nathalie Delzenne, Belgium

Nathalie Delzenne is Head of the Research Group in Metabolism and Nutrition, Louvain Drug Research Institute Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium. Her research interests focus on the role of the gut microbiota in the modulation of glucose and lipid metabolism and inflammation, and how these effects can be influenced by functional foods including prebiotic-type nutrients.

Prof. Antonio Gasbarrini, Italy

Antonio Gasbarrini is Professor of internal medicine and gastroenterology at the Universita' Cattolica, Rome, Italy. His research interests focus on diseases of the liver and biliary tract and the organic and functional diseases of the digestive system. He is a member of the EAGEN – European Association of Gastroenterology, Endoscopy and Nutrition.

Increasing evidence suggests a strong link between the gut microbiota and the development of obesity and related metabolic disorders. Not only is obesity associated with changes in the composition and metabolic function of the gut microbiota, but there is also less diversity and changes in the metabolic pathways in the gut microbiota of obese individuals. A high-fat has also been shown to modulate the microbiota, independently of the obese state.

Experimental studies primarily in animal models have shown that transplantation of the microbiota of either obese or lean mice influences body weight in the germ-free recipient mice. Furthermore, there is evidence that the gut microbiota may regulate body weight by influencing metabolic, neuroendocrine and immune functions. Imbalances in the gut microbiota and increases in plasma lipopolysaccharide may act as inflammatory factors predisposing to the development of atherosclerosis, insulin resistance and body-weight gain. Such evidence has led to the development of the concept of MicrObesity (i.e. Microbes and Obesity). Research has shown that modulation of specific gut microbiota has beneficial effects on glucose and lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, and low-grade inflammation, in obese and diabetic mice. Although these findings need to be confirmed in humans, they suggest that the gut may play a previously unrecognised role in the development of obesity.

Thus, profiling the gut microbiota may identify putative bacterial targets influencing host lipid metabolism, which may be of potential relevance to the management of obesity and related metabolic disease.

Key references

Everard A, Lazarevic V, Derrien M, Girard M, Muccioli GG, Neyrinck AM, Possemiers S, Van Holle A, François P, de Vos WM, Delzenne NM, Schrenzel J, Cani PD. Responses of gut microbiota and glucose and lipid metabolism to prebiotics in genetic obese and diet-induced leptin-resistant mice. Diabetes 2011;60:2775-86.

Delzenne NM, Cani PD. Interaction between obesity and the gut microbiota: relevance in nutrition. Annu Rev Nutr 2011;31:15-31.

Scarpellini E, Campanale M, Leone D, Purchiaroni F, Vitale G, Lauritano EC, Gasbarrini A. Gut microbiota and obesity. Intern Emerg Med 2010;5 Suppl 1:S53-6.

Forrás: The European Atherosclerosis Society website