Synthetic composition for treating metabolic disorders

A method comprising:

• administering to an obese non-infant human during a treatment period an effective amount of a single synthetic nonfucosylated human milk oligosaccharide (HMO) selected from lacto-N-tetraose (LNT), lacto-N-neotetraose (LNnT), and optionally one or more excipients;
• increasing in the gastrointestinal microbiota of the non-infant human during the treatment period, the relative abundance of Bifidobacterium adolescentis;
• and
• reducing in the non-infant human during the treatment period, a precursor condition for a metabolic disorder associated with development of one or more of obesity-induced pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes, the precursor condition selected from gut permeability, metabolic endotoxemia, low-grade metabolic inflammation, and body fat percentage.

A method comprising:

• administering to an obese non-infant human during a treatment period an effective amount of a mixture of two or more synthetic neutral human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) selected from 2′-fucosyllactose (2′FL), 3-fucosyllactose (3-FL), difucosyllactose (DFL), lacto-N-fucopentaose I (LNFP-I), lacto-N-tetraose (LNT), and lacto-N-neotetraose (LNnT), and optionally one or more excipients;
• increasing in the gastrointestinal microbiota of the non-infant human during the treatment period, the relative abundance of Bifidobacterium adolescentis;
• and
• reducing in the non-infant human during the treatment period, a precursor condition for a metabolic disorder associated with development of one or more of obesity-induced pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes, the precursor condition selected from gut permeability, metabolic endotoxemia, low-grade metabolic inflammation, and body fat percentage.