A Newly Synbiotic Combination Alleviates Obesity by Modulating the Gut Microbiota–Fat Axis and Inhibiting the Hepatic TLR4/NF‐κB Signaling Pathway

SCOPE: Obesity has been recognized as a worldwide public health crisis, this is accompanied by dysregulation of the intestinal microbiota and upregulation of liver steatosis and adipose inflammation. Synbiotic as a novel alternative therapy for obesity have recently gained much attention. METHODS: This study innovatively research the anti-obesity properties of a newly synbiotic composed of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium infantis and konjac glucomannan oligosaccharides. RESULTS: The synbiotic treatment can reduce body weight, fat mass, blood sugar, liver steatosis and adipose inflammation in obesity mice fed by high-fat diet (HFD). Meanwhile, synbiotic treatment activated brown adipose tissue and improve energy, glucose and lipid metabolism. In addition, synbiotic treatment not solely enhanced the protection of intestinal barrier, but also ameliorated gut microbiota dysbiosis directly by enhancing beneficial microbes and reducing potentially harmful bacteria. Furthermore, the microbiome phenotype and functional prediction showed that synbiotic treatment can improve the gut microbiota functions involving inflammatory state, immune response, metabolism and pathopoiesia. CONCLUSION: The synbiotic may be an effective candidate treatment strategy for the clinical prevention and treatment of obesity and other associated metabolic diseases such as hyperlipidemia, nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases by alleviating inflammatory response, regulating energy metabolism and maintaining the balance of intestinal microecology.