Table 3.

Impact of prebiotics and synbiotics on overnutrition and undernutrition in human intervention studies.

Prebiotic/Synbiotic	Subject Information	Duration	Effect	Reference
Oligofructose	Healthy adults, aBMI > 25 kg/m2	12 weeks	—Reduced weight gain —Improved glucose regulation —Reduced caloric intake —Suppressed ghrelin expression —Enhanced bPYY expression	[213]
Oligofructose-enriched inulin	Overweight/obese children, 7–12 years	16 weeks	—Modulated gut microbiota —Reduced body weight z-score, percent body fat and percent trunk fat —Decreased cIL-6 levels —Reduced serum triglycerides	[214]
Oligofructose	Obese/overweight children, 7–11 years and 12–18 years	12 weeks	No effect	[215]
Inulin-type fructans	Obese women	3 months	—Modulated gut microbiota —Slight decrease in fat mass and phosphatidylcholine and plasma lactate levels	[216]
Inulin-type fructans	Obese women	3 months	—Modulated gut microbiota —Lowered total dSCFAs, acetate and propionate —Lowered fasting insulinemia and homeostasis model assessment	[217]
Synbiotic in eRUTF	Children with fSAM, 5–168 months	33 days	—Reduced outpatient mortality	[218]
Prebiotic-probiotic fortified milk	Preschool healthy and stunted children	1 year	—Increased weight gain —Reduced risk of anemia and iron deficiency	[219]
Synbiotic (probiotic mix + inulin and gFOS)	Healthy toddlers, 12 months	1 year	—Modulated gut microbiota —Improved weight gain	[220]
Synbiotic	Children with failure to thrive	6 months	—Increased weight gain	[221]

^aBMI, body mass index; ^bPYY, peptide YY; ^cIL-6, interleukin-6; ^dSCFAs, short chain fatty acids; ^eRUTF, ready to use therapeutic food; ^fSAM, severe acute malnutrition; ^gFOS, fructooligosaccharide.