Gut Microbiota-Brain Axis in Feeding Behavior Regulation: From Mechanisms to Nutritional Interventions

The global rise in obesity and related metabolic disorders has highlighted the limited long-term effectiveness of traditional strategies based solely on caloric restriction or pharmacological treatment, prompting growing interest in alternative biological targets for intervention. The gut microbiota-brain axis has emerged as a critical bidirectional communication system that profoundly influences feeding behavior, energy homeostasis, and metabolic health. This axis operates through multiple interconnected pathways, including neural signaling via the vagal afferent pathway, endocrine regulation through gut hormones such as glucagon-like peptide-1 and peptide YY, metabolic signaling mediated by short-chain fatty acids, and immune modulation through inflammatory mediators. Dysbiosis of the gut microbiota disrupts these pathways, contributing to aberrant feeding behavior and metabolic dysfunction. Nutritional interventions targeting the gut microbiota, including prebiotics such as inulin, fructo-oligosaccharides and galacto-oligosaccharides, probiotics, and emerging postbiotics, have demonstrated promising effects on appetite regulation and metabolic outcomes. Beyond dietary composition, the manipulation of feeding patterns represents an underexplored yet pivotal strategy for optimizing gut-brain signaling. This review synthesizes current mechanistic understanding of the gut microbiota-brain axis in feeding behavior regulation and evaluates the therapeutic potential of microbiota-targeted dietary interventions. We highlight emerging technologies such as gut-on-a-chip models and discuss future directions toward precision nutrition approaches targeting satiety signaling, energy intake regulation, and gut-brain axis integrity for obesity prevention and management.