Intestine Bacteria and Obesity

  • Gustavo Chab Pistelli Universidade Estadual de Maringá – UEM
  • Cecilia Edna Mareze-da-Costa UEM
Keywords: Obesity, Intestine Bacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes.

Abstract

Obesity is a non-transmissible chronic disease on the increase worldwide. Environmental factors are involved in current prevalence of obesity since the genetic heritage of the human species has not undergone such significant changes during a short period of time. Several studies have shown that the development of obesity in humans may have been affected by relative proportions of two main bacteria phyla in human intestine flora, namely, Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. This suggests that the metabolic activities of these intestine microbiotics provide the extraction and the storing of ingested calories. Due to the importance of such knowledge for the better understanding of factors that may lead to obesity and consequently for its prevention and treatment, current investigation provides the main results of research which discuss the involvement of bacteria in obesity.

Author Biographies

Gustavo Chab Pistelli, Universidade Estadual de Maringá – UEM
Graduado em Odontologia e Especialista em Fisiologia Humana pelo Departamento de Ciências Fisiológicas da Universidade Estadual de Maringá – UEM.
Cecilia Edna Mareze-da-Costa, UEM
Doutora em Fisiologia Humana pelo Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas da Universidade de São Paulo – USP e Docente de Fisiologia do Departamento de Ciências Fisiológicas da Universidade Estadual de Maringá - UEM. E-mail: cemcosta@uem.br
Published
2010-05-04
Section
Artigos de Revisão