1. Introduction

1. Background and search strategy

This project involves investigating the of role of short chain fatty acids in systemic inflammation. Most of the research has been done in a human monocytic cell line. A part of the research is based on a clinical trial in which 60 overweight individuals were either provided with an inulin control sachet or an inulin propionate ester sachet (to be mixed with food) over a period of 24 weeks. The blood samples from these individuals were used to determine the levels of different inflammatory markers. Through this project we aim to assess the effects of short chain fatty acids on systemic inflammation and understand the mechanistic pathways linked to it.

For retrieving research articles, OVID and google scholar were used. The keywords used for the search were- ‘obesity’, ‘inflammation’, ‘short chain fatty acids’ and ‘appetite’. The alternative terms like ‘overweight’, ‘obese’ and ‘high BMI’ were also used to capture as much literature as possible in the database. Combinations of the above words were used with ‘AND’ or ‘OR’ operators to find the specific papers related to the topic. A few resources other than the research articles like book chapters and public health websites were also used to gather relevant information on the statistics and current scenario of obesity.

2. Obesity –prevalence and risk factors

Obesity is a chronic disorder which is a result of the imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. The classification of obesity is based on BMI which has been represented in table 1.1 below for different classes. For children below 5 years, BMI z score or weight for height z score are used as indicators for obesity (Smith and Smith, 2016).

Table 1.1 Obesity classification