A comprehensive systematic review of the effectiveness of Akkermansia muciniphila, a member of the gut microbiome, for the management of obesity and associated metabolic disorders

Abstract

Aims and background

Obesity is recognised as a significant public health burden worldwide. Recently the cross-talk between gut microbiota and obesity has attracted much attention. To that end, Akkermansia muciniphila has been proposed as a promising microbe to manage obesity. In the present systematic review, we evaluated evidence on the effectiveness and mechanisms of action of Akkermansia muciniphila supplementation in the management of obesity.

Methods

Electronic databases of MEDLINE, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched thought March 2020 to identify relevant published articles, and eligible articles were systematically reviewed.

Results and conclusions

Fifteen studies were included in the present study. Findings from the present review, which included human and animal (rodent) models support the effectiveness of Akkermansia supplementation as a novel therapeutic approach for the management of obesity and metabolic complications associated with obesity. However, future clinical trials are warranted to verify these outcomes.

Keywords:

• Akkermansia muciniphila
• A. muciniphila
• gut microbiota
• weight loss obesity

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Cardiovascular Research Center of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences.

Author contributions

A comprehensive systematic search was completed by two investigators (NMA, ON and SS). Two investigators (BK, SB) conducted the study selection. Two research assistants extracted data from identified articles (HT, AO and AH). SGh and NR evaluated the accuracy and quality of the included data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data from this study are available upon request from the corresponding author.