SILVIA CASTEGNARO
ROELMI HPC, Origgio, Italy

Abstract

Metabolic syndrome is defined as a cluster of conditions that together concur to increase the cardiovascular risk; its development is the wake-up call for obesity and other cardio metabolic diseases now considered as the major public burden. Microbiota seems to play a key role in the metabolic syndrome, since a dysbiotic status can compromise some cardio-metabolic receptors increasing the incidence of cardiovascular disease risks. Few clinical trials reported positive results, but most of them only focused on cholesterol reduction without mentioning other important parameters as visceral fat or blood pressure. From this perspective, L. plantarum PBS067, L. reuteri PBS072 and L. acidophilus PBS066, have been extensively studied in-vitro and clinically, demonstrating a beneficial effect in terms of waist circumferences, visceral fat and quality of life, providing not only a short- term effect on body shape, but a more comprehensive pro-healthy approach to prevention, delivering long-term outcomes through local microbiota modulation.

INTRODUCTION
In recent years, it has been defined that gut dysbiosis is not only connected to the development of intestinal symptoms, but also in cardio-metabolic conditions as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) (2–4), which cause a huge impact on both public health and people’s quality of life (5). Metabolic syndrome is a multifactorial condition which includes obesity, dyslipidemia, glucose intolerance and hypertension, with a two-fold increased incidence of the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and cerebrovascular disease (6).
The growing prevalence of MetS (approximately 31% in the global population) in the last decades underlines the need of new strategies for its prevention and treatment (7, 6).
The connection between gut microbiota imbalance, inflammation and its role in the pathogenesis of MetS components is now under investigation (8). Indeed, intestinal microorganisms are involved in several metabolic processes and in the production of bioactive molecules (e.g., short-chain fatty acids, vitamins and metabolites) important for human physiology (9). In this regards, gut microbiota manipul ...