Abstract

Obesity is an important risk factor for the development of non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes (T2D), musculoskeletal disorders, and some cancers. The current obesity epidemic is now recognized as one of the largest, global public health concerns. A major contributing factor to obesity is the consumption of energy-dense foods. These foods result in an energy imbalance that promotes weight gain and insulin resistance. The gut microbiome is also known to contribute, at least partially, to these outcomes. Obesogenic diets enriched in saturated fats and highly digestible sugars drive a shift towards microbial communities with increased capacity for energy harvest and the induction of a systemic, pro-inflammatory state. Dietary additions, such as certain fermentable fibers and probiotics, are known to counter the effects of obesogenic foods and improve dysregulated biological processes in clinical studies and animal models. This talk will present the effect of consumption of a type 2 resistant starch and Lactobacillus plantarum NCIMB 8826 on multiple facets (microbiome, metabolome, immunity, and endocrine responses) of obesity in mice with diet-induced obesity. This work was conducted by a team of researchers from Prairie View A&M University, University of California-Davis and USDA ARS Western Human Nutrition Research Center with a grant from the American Diabetes Association.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Javad Barouei is currently a research scientist in Cooperative Agricultural Research Center (CARC) at PVAMU. Javad earned his Ph.D. in host-gut microbiome-diet interactions from the University of Newcastle, Australia in 2013. Subsequently Javad conducted his post-doctoral research at the University of California-Davis (2013-2017) in the area of gut microbiome and microbial food safety. He joined PVAMU in 2017. His research focus is host-gut microbiome-diet interactions in rodent models of chronic dieases, and quantitative microbial risk assessment.