Obesity and Gut Microbiome: Current Evidence 

Mugo Moses H.

School of Natural and Applied Sciences Kampala International University Uganda

ABSTRACT

Obesity, a multifactorial metabolic disorder characterized by excessive fat accumulation, has become a leading global health challenge. Recent research underscores the gut microbiome, a complex community of microorganisms inhabiting the human gastrointestinal tract as a crucial regulator of host metabolism, energy homeostasis, and inflammation. Dysbiosis, defined as an imbalance in microbial composition, has been closely associated with obesity and its related metabolic complications. Current evidence suggests that gut microbial diversity, diet, genetics, and environmental factors interact dynamically to influence weight gain and metabolic efficiency. Alterations in the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio, changes in short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production, and modulation of bile acid metabolism highlight key mechanistic links between gut microbiota and obesity pathogenesis. Emerging studies emphasize the promise of microbiome-targeted interventions such as probiotics, prebiotics, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), and dietary modifications to restore microbial balance and improve metabolic health. However, methodological challenges, including small sample sizes, confounding factors, and data variability, limit the reproducibility and interpretation of findings. Longitudinal studies demonstrate that gut microbial diversity fluctuates following interventions such as bariatric surgery, reflecting the microbiome’s responsiveness to metabolic shifts. Personalized medicine approaches integrating gut microbial profiling, nutrigenetics, and omics-based analyses offer potential for individualized weight loss and disease prevention strategies. The public health implications of these findings are profound, as microbiome-informed interventions could provide low-cost, non-invasive strategies for obesity prevention and management. Nevertheless, ethical challenges, such as informed consent, data ownership, and commercialization of microbiome data demand careful governance to ensure equitable access and responsible innovation. To advance understanding, future research must prioritize large-scale, population-based longitudinal studies to establish causality, identify key microbial species, and evaluate the efficacy and safety of microbiome-based therapies. By bridging mechanistic insights with personalized and ethical applications, microbiome science holds transformative potential for obesity control and global metabolic health improvement.

Keywords: Gut Microbiome, Obesity Pathogenesis, Personalized Medicine, Microbiome-Based Therapy and Ethical Considerations in Microbiome Research.

CITE AS: Mugo Moses H. (2025). Obesity and Gut Microbiome: Current Evidence. Research Output Journal of Biological and Applied Science 5(3):46-57. https://doi.org/10.59298/ROJBAS/2025/534657