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Received Jun 5, 2017; Revised Sep 4, 2017; Accepted Sep 27, 2017
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1. Introduction
Obesity is a condition mainly caused by an alteration in energy intake, shifting towards positive energy balance, which can be influenced by genetic and environmental factors [1]. The prevalence of obesity is increasing at an epidemic rate globally, with more than one billion adults overweight and at least 300 million of them clinically obese [2]. Morbid obesity is known to be accompanied by serious health conditions, including hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and venous thromboembolism [3].
A large number of diverse microbial species reside in the distal gastrointestinal tract, and gut microbiota dysbiosis results in the imbalance of the composition and function of these intestinal microbes [4]. To date, many studies demonstrate that gut microbes play a great role in disease, ranging from localized gastroenterologic disorders to neurologic, respiratory, hepatic, and cardiovascular illness and metabolic related syndromes [5–8]. In particular, the fundamental role of gut microbiota in regulation and pathogenesis of metabolic disorders has attracted interest of more and more researchers in recent years. For the aspect of obesity, the research team of Jeffrey Gordon learned that differences of gut microbial communities were associated with obesity and that obesity would lead to reducing the diversity of microorganisms [9]. Subsequently, they confirmed the great role of gut microbes in obesity with an animal model in mice [10]. Dietary habits have strong influences on the selection of gut microbiota. Recently, proposed...