Probiotics and postbiotics: focus on metabolic syndrome

The metabolic syndrome is (MetS) defined by a constellation of clinical criteria, which allows identifying patients at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity and other comorbidities. Identifying and understanding the different set of risk factors in the population would allow new and different treatment strategies. Accumulating evidence suggests that gut microbiota plays a significant role in the initiation and progression of MetS. It is known that the gut microbiota can modulate plasma glucose, appetite, serum lipids, pro-inflammation and oxidative stress. The complex and orchestrated molecular cross-talk between the host and the gut microbiome is realized by bioactive metabolites and signaling molecules synthesized by the gut microbiome. Those metabolites play a significant role in modulating human health in diversified ways. Therefore, based on these current achievements, gut microbiota may be a potential therapeutic target for metabolic diseases. Their manipulation employing specific microorganisms and substrates to benefit the host metabolism has received substantial interest. Overall, the addition of probiotics to the prevention or treatment of patients with MetS may have an advantage over the current medical treatment in terms of improvement of some clinical characteristics of the MetS. The vast panorama of utilizing probiotics is continuously expanding, and evidence shows that conferring the health benefits through metabolites, called postbiotics. This chapter describes short-chain fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and phenolic compounds as main postbiotics targeting the inflammation and oxidative stress biomarkers present in the MetS.