The current pandemic of obesity is a significant and growing healthcare issue. Not only do the patients suffer from the excessive weight, they also display a series of co-morbidities which include cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes and metabolic syndrome. While calorie restriction is an intervention which is used to aid in weight loss, the most promising bariatric intervention is surgical and involves a variety of gastric bypasses, for example the Roux-En-Y procedure. Hence there is strong interest in how these interventions re-modulate the microbiome-metabolite host dialogue, leading to resolution of several of the co-morbidities, such as Type II diabetes.

Moreover the gut microbiome has been implicated as an environmental factor in increasing the energy harvested from the diet and thus contributing to an individual’s risk of developing this disease. Additionally a role for the microbiome in regulating gut hormones and potentially satiety has also been reported which might be an important environmental signal to the host to eat more.

Whichever of the roles is driving individuals towards obesity it is clear that the microbiome needs to be considered when undertaking research into this disease and the cDGH is developing tools and interventions to explore the complex role of the gut microbiome in obesity.