Objective:From a nutritional perspective, garlic extract could be a prebiotic product, which is useful for obese subjects, and one of its health-promoting underlying mechanisms is modulating gut microbiota composition. In this randomized double-blind clinical trial, the goal was to determine the effect of Allium (garlic extract) on anthropometric indices and gut microbiota
composition in obese women following a low-calorie diet.
Materials and methods: Forty-three obese women were randomly divided into garlic extract (400 mg Allium sativum powder containing 1,100 mcg
allicin/tablet) or placebo groups. During the 2 months of the study, each
participant took two tablets per day. At the beginning and at the end of the
clinical trial, anthropometric measurements were done and blood and fecal
samples were collected. We evaluated the gut microbiota composition using
quantitative real-time PCR.
