Human microbiome in malnutrition

Abstract

Human gut microbiota is resilient in nature, so it can be easily modified by diet. The resilient nature of gut microflora can contribute to prevent metabolic syndromes in the human body by changing the diet and lifestyle. The outcome as a result of the interaction of gut microflora with the host, which is further influenced by the food consumed, is a widely explored area in the present time. Malnutrition is a wide terminology that includes a variety of nutritional deficiencies, including undernutrition and obesity. It is characterized by unevenness between energy intake and expenditure. Children who survive malnutrition are more likely to have delayed cognitive and motor development, obesity, and non-communicable illnesses later in their life. Obesity and undernutrition have a common biological feature: changes in the configuration and diversity of the gut microbiota as compared to healthy people. In the recent scenario, obesity is a major health problem worldwide. Metabolic disorders like obesity have characteristic composition of gut microflora that arises as a result of microflora dysbiosis. Probiotics play a very important role in managing the gut microbiota of humans. Thus, they can help to restore our gut microbiota. Studies have shown that gastrointestinal microbiota can change two factors: energy utilization from the feeding materials and secretion of the metabolites that regulate the genes responsible for energy utilization as well as its storage in the human body. Another aspect to modulate the gut microbiota is providence of probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, and fecal microbiota transplant (FMT). In this chapter, the factors affecting the gut microbiota and possible treatment for malnutrition and obesity will be discussed in detail.