At this point, we don’t know exactly what characterizes the obese microbiome. However, it could be argued that we don’t really need to establish exactly which phyla and species of microbes that play a key role in obesity. Certainly, having more knowledge about the obese microbiome and the role of specific gut microbes in obesity would help us develop probiotics (beneficial bacteria), prebiotics (food ingredients that boost the growth of beneficial bacteria), synbiotics (combination of prebiotics and probiotics), and other products that can modulate the gut microbiome. However, we already have a lot of the knowledge we need to target and treat the obese microbiome.
