Microbiota, Obesity and NAFLD

Louis H S Lau; Sunny H Wong

doi:10.1007/978-981-10-8684-7_9

Microbiota, Obesity and NAFLD

Adv Exp Med Biol. 2018:1061:111-125. doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-8684-7_9.

Authors

Louis H S Lau¹, Sunny H Wong²

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Digestive Disease, State Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases, Department of Medicine & Therapeutics and LKS Institute of Health Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
² Institute of Digestive Disease, State Key Laboratory of Digestive Diseases, Department of Medicine & Therapeutics and LKS Institute of Health Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong. wonghei@cuhk.edu.hk.

PMID: 29956210
DOI: 10.1007/978-981-10-8684-7_9

Abstract

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an increasingly important cause of chronic liver disease globally. Similar to metabolic syndrome and obesity, NAFLD is associated with alternations in the gut microbiota and its related biological pathways. While the exact pathophysiology of NAFLD remains largely unknown, changes in intestinal inflammation, gut permeability, energy harvest, anaerobic fermentation and insulin resistance have been described. In this chapter, we review the relationship between the gut microbiota, obesity and NAFLD, and highlight potential ways to modify the gut microbiota to help managing NAFLD patients.

Keywords: Energy harvest; Fatty liver; Gut permeability; Insulin resistance; Intestinal inflammation; Microbiota.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Gastrointestinal Microbiome*
Humans
Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease* / etiology
Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease* / metabolism
Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease* / microbiology
Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease* / pathology
Obesity* / etiology
Obesity* / metabolism
Obesity* / microbiology
Obesity* / pathology