Back to article: Imbalance in gut microbes from babies born to obese mothers increases gut permeability and myeloid cell adaptations that provoke obesity and NAFLD
FIGURE 1: Proposed mechanism by which dysbiosis in infants of obese mothers predisposes offspring to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and obesity. Altered gut microbes in the infant of an obese mother cause altered bile acid metabolism, increased short-chain fatty acid production and a leaky gut with bacterial translocation. In the bone, infant dysbiosis results in poorly functioning recruited macrophages. In the liver, the inflammation caused by translocated bacteria remains unresolved due to hyporesponsive recruited macrophages. Exposure to a secondary hit, such as a Western-style diet, results in hepatic steatosis and obesity.