Nohesara Shabnam, Mostafavi Abdolmaleky Hamid, Pirani Ahmad, Pettinato Giuseppe, Thiagalingam Sam
Department of Medicine (Biomedical Genetics), Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA.
Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boson, MA 02215, USA.
Nutrients. 2025 May 1;17(9):1564. doi: 10.3390/nu17091564.
Obesity (OB) has become a serious health issue owing to its ever-increasing prevalence over the past few decades due to its contribution to severe metabolic and inflammatory disorders such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. The unbalanced energy metabolism in OB is associated with substantial epigenetic changes mediated by the gut microbiome (GM) structure and composition alterations. Remarkably, experimental evidence also indicates that OB-induced epigenetic modifications in adipocytes can lead to cellular "memory" alterations, predisposing individuals to weight regain after caloric restriction and subsequently inducing inflammatory pathways in the liver. Various environmental factors, especially diet, play key roles in the progression or prevention of OB and OB-related disorders by modulating the GM structure and composition and affecting epigenetic mechanisms. Here, we will first focus on the key role of epigenetic aberrations in the development of OB. Then, we discuss the association between abnormal alterations in the composition of the microbiome and OB and the interplays between the microbiome and the epigenome in the development of OB. Finally, we review promising strategies, including prebiotics, probiotics, a methyl-rich diet, polyphenols, and herbal foods for the prevention and/or treatment of OB via modulating the GM and their metabolites influencing the epigenome.
肥胖（OB）已成为一个严重的健康问题，在过去几十年里其患病率不断上升，因为它会导致严重的代谢和炎症性疾病，如心血管疾病、2型糖尿病和癌症。肥胖中的能量代谢失衡与肠道微生物群（GM）结构和组成改变介导的大量表观遗传变化有关。值得注意的是，实验证据还表明，肥胖诱导的脂肪细胞表观遗传修饰可导致细胞“记忆”改变，使个体在热量限制后易重新增重，并随后在肝脏中诱导炎症途径。各种环境因素，尤其是饮食，通过调节肠道微生物群的结构和组成以及影响表观遗传机制，在肥胖及肥胖相关疾病的进展或预防中起关键作用。在这里，我们首先将关注表观遗传异常在肥胖发生发展中的关键作用。然后，我们将讨论微生物群组成的异常改变与肥胖之间的关联，以及在肥胖发生发展过程中微生物群与表观基因组之间的相互作用。最后，我们回顾了一些有前景的策略，包括益生元、益生菌、富含甲基的饮食、多酚和草药食品，它们通过调节肠道微生物群及其影响表观基因组的代谢产物来预防和/或治疗肥胖。
