Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Obesity and metabolic syndrome (MS) to which it can lead are diseases that have become very important in recent decades. Understanding the complex mechanisms leading to the development of obesity and metabolic syndrome would give us the answers on how to properly manage these important socially significant diseases. The criteria for metabolic syndrome in recent years have changed a little bit, but invariably they include - visceral type of obesity - measured by waist circumference, arterial hypertension, dyslipidemia - characterized by low levels of HDL-cholesterol and increased levels of triglycerides, diabetes mellitus (DM) type 2 or impaired fasting glycemia. However, insulin resistance is both a consequence of obesity and one of the causes of the development of metabolic syndrome. In recent years, different groups of medications have proven their effect on insulin resistance and are used in the treatment of obesity and metabolic syndrome. Recent studies have shown that the gut microbiome is also extremely important in the development of insulin resistance and may be one of the keys to treating MS and obesity.

Methods: Forty patients with obesity, MS and HOMA-index above 5 were tracked during the study. The patients were given a probiotic - 2.5 × 10⁹ cfu/g of Ecologic®Barrier (multi-strain probiotics) and a standard diet for 6 months. After 6 months, we followed the value of fasting blood sugar, fasting insulin and HOMA index.

Results: In all patients using probiotics, there was a decrease in the levels of fasting insulin, as well as in the levels of fasting glucose, respectively the levels of the HOMA-index, and this reached statistically significant values P<0.05. In thirty of the patients, there was a decrease in body weight of 5 ±1 kg.

Conclusion: Usage of specialized probiotics and regulation of the gut microbiome may lead to improvement in metabolic parameters in MS and obesity. Extensive studies on the impact of probiotics on components of MS and obesity are needed to fully understand their effect in the treatment of these diseases.