Precision nutrition for obesity management: A gut microbiota-centered weight-loss approach

Obesity is a complex and multifactorial condition strongly associated with metabolic burdens and cardiovascular diseases. This review focuses on precision nutrition as a strategy for obesity management, exploring how personalized interventions can modulate the composition and functionality of the gut microbiome to promote weight loss and improve metabolic health. A growing body of evidence suggests that imbalances in gut microbiota composition directly impact lipid metabolism, immune and inflammatory pathways, and appetite regulation mechanisms. Furthermore, the review discusses the relationship between gut microbiota and dietary factors, highlighting how certain types of diets (such as the Mediterranean diet and fiber-rich diets) can promote the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and the growth of beneficial bacteria associated with weight regulation and reduced inflammation. While diet is the primary factor modulating the gut microbiota, factors such as genetics and epigenetic characteristics, body composition, maternal nutritional, type of birth delivery, physical activity and even drug use also play significant roles in this modulation. Although the use of precision nutrition approaches still faces challenges, such as cost and variability in individual response, the integration of omics technologies, artificial intelligence, and machine learning appear to offer great potential as tools to identify specific microbial and genetic profiles that allow for the personalization of nutritional interventions. These technologies enable large-scale analysis of dietary, genomic, and microbial factors to create dietary strategies to prevent or treat obesity that meet the specific metabolic needs of each individual. Thus, the application of these tools in clinical settings could transform obesity management, creating data-driven interventions that enhance treatment effectiveness.