Gut microbiota is believed to play a crucial role in modulating obesity in humans, and probiotics affecting gut microbiota can alleviate some of the obesity-related health complications. The study was aimed to investigate changes in the composition of the gut microbiome in obese humans due to short-term (2 weeks) treatment of obese patients with a probiotic preparation containing Bifidobacterium longum. Faecal microbiome diversity was studied using the 16S amplicon sequencing by Illumina MiSeq. Bioinformatic analysis showed distribution across 14 phyla (with Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes dominating), 21 class, 125 genera and 973 OTUs. The probiotic treatment decreased relative abundance of Bacteroidetes (Prevotellaceae and Bacteroidaceae), while increasing that of Actinobacteria (Bifidobacteriaceae and Coriobacteriaceae), and Firmicutes (Negativicutes: Veillonellaceae and Clostridia: Peptostreptococcaceae). The probiotic treatment decreased total blood sugar and increased patients’ assessment of their physical and mental health. Thus even the short-term Bifidobacterium-based probiotic treatment brought significant compositional changes in the 16S rRNA gene diversity in faecal bacterial assemblages by increasing beneficial and decreasing pathogenic or opportunistic bacteria; the related shifts in life quality assessment necessitate further research into the causal relationships involved.

肠道微生物群被认为在调节人类肥胖方面起着至关重要的作用，影响肠道微生物群的益生菌可以减轻一些与肥胖相关的健康并发症。该研究旨在调查因使用含有长双歧杆菌的益生菌制剂对肥胖患者进行短期（2 周）治疗而导致肥胖患者肠道微生物组组成的变化。使用 Illumina MiSeq 的 16S 扩增子测序研究粪便微生物组的多样性。生物信息学分析显示分布在 14 个门（以厚壁菌门和拟杆菌门为主）、21 个纲、125 个属和 973 个 OTU。益生菌处理降低了拟杆菌（Prevotellaceae）的相对丰度和拟杆菌），而增加了的放线菌（双歧杆菌和红蝽菌科），以及厚壁菌门（Negativicutes：韦荣氏球菌科和梭状芽胞杆菌：Peptostreptococcaceae）。益生菌治疗降低了总血糖，并增加了患者对其身心健康的评估。因此，即使是短期的双歧杆菌基于益生菌的处理通过增加有益菌和减少致病菌或机会性细菌，使粪便细菌组合中的 16S rRNA 基因多样性发生显着的组成变化；生活质量评估的相关变化需要进一步研究所涉及的因果关系。