<i>Saccharomyces boulardii</i> Administration Changes Gut Microbiota and Reduces Hepatic Steatosis, Low <b>-</b> Grade Inflammation, and Fat Mass in Obese and Type 2 Diabetic <i>db</i> / <i>db</i> Mice

Abstract

To date, no probiotic yeast have been investigated in the context of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Here we found that type 2 diabetic and obese mice (db/db) treated with Saccharomyces boulardii exhibited reduced body weight, fat mass, hepatic steatosis, and inflammatory tone. These effects on host metabolism were associated with local effects in the intestine. Importantly, by using pyrosequencing, we found that S. boulardii treatment induces changes of the gut microbiota composition at the phylum, family, and genus levels. Moreover, we found that gut microbiota changes in response to S. boulardii were correlated with several host metabolism responses.