The worldwide prevalence of obesity more than doubled between 1980 and 2014. The obesity pandemic is tightly linked to an increase in energy availability, sedentariness and greater control of ambient temperature that have paralleled the socioeconomic development of the past decades. The most frequent cause which leads to the obesity development is a dysbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. The gut microbiota as an environmental factor which influence whole-body metabolism by affecting energy balance but also inflammation and gut barrier function, integrate peripheral and central food intake regulatory signals and thereby increase body weight. Probiotics have physiologic functions that contribute to the health of gut microbiota, can affect food intake and appetite, body weight and composition and metabolic functions through gastrointestinal pathways and modulation of the gut bacterial community.

2nd Department of Internal Medicine Comenius University and University Hospital Mickiewiczova 13 813 69 Bratislava Slovak Republic

Department of Gastroenterology Central University Hospital of Asturias Oviedo Spain

Department of Gastroenterology Central University Hospital of Asturias Oviedo Spain ; 2nd Department of Internal Medicine Faculty of Medicine Masaryk University Pekarska 53 656 91 Brno Czech Republic ; Laboratory of Structural Biology and Proteomics Central Laboratories Faculty of Pharmacy University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno Czech Republic

Department of Psychology The University of Texas at Austin Austin TX USA ; University of Texas Imaging Research Center Austin TX USA

Division of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases Catholic University of Sacred Heart A Gemelli Medical School Rome Italy

Division of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology Catholic University of Sacred Heart A Gemelli Medical School Rome Italy

Faculty of Health Studies University of Pardubice Pardubice Czech Republic

Institute of Geotechnics Department of Biotechnology Slovak Academy of Sciences Kosice Slovak Republic

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Microbiome-based approaches to personalized nutrition: from gut health to disease prevention