**1. Introduction**

The incidence of obesity has ascended steadily in the last ~35 years and is reaching epidemic levels worldwide, inflicting life-threatening conditions and great socioeconomic burden. It is an alarming fact that almost half of the world's population is obese or overweight. Obesity is a major health concern often correlated with deteriorating life expectancy and increasing risks of several comorbid disorders, such as cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, type-2 diabetes mellitus, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, steatohepatitis, osteoarthritis, and cancer [1]. The significant increase in obesity within the world's population prompted the need for identifying novel cost-effective interventions that are capable of controlling obesity with minimal harmful side effects. Obesity and obesity-linked diseases are associated with systemic chronic inflammation that leads to altered adipocyte functions [2]. Aberrant accumulation of macrophages (referred to as adipose tissue associated macrophages or ATMs) in adipose depots and other immune cells are vital contributors to obesity-induced inflammation [3,4]. The discovery that immune cell infiltration increases in adipose tissues of obese individuals has opened a new aspect in the research field and emphasizes the interest of using strategies that target immune cells to overcome the adversities associated with obesity. Thus, elucidating the mechanisms underlying obesity-linked inflammation has been suggested as a potential approach in preventing and battling obesity. High fat diets (HFD) induced harmful changes in the gut microbiome, leading to inflammation and systemic metabolic dysregulation [5]. Therefore, regulating the gut microbiome through the use of healthier diets could impact prevention and treatment of obesity.

Flavonoids are a large class of bioactive dietary nutraceuticals derived from the phenolic metabolism, which is widely distributed in plants and represents the important nutritional components of our diet [6]. Flavonoids, with more than 7000 identified, so far, have a myriad of health-promoting effects, owing to their potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, and immuno-modularity properties [7,8]. Due to these benefits, flavonoids are attracting great interest in the treatment and prevention of chronic inflammatory diseases. Emerging evidence suggests that the intake of flavonoid-rich diets exerts an inverse correlation with obesity and related inflammation [9,10]. Interestingly, recent studies showed that flavonoids can alter the gut microbiota ecosystem, reducing systemic inflammation [11]. Here, we reviewed the mechanistic aspects of obesity-induced inflammation, as well as the current knowledge on the role of dietary flavones, a subclass of flavonoids, and the molecular mechanisms that are involved in regulating obesity-induced inflammation and related diseases, such as cancer. We also highlight the potential beneficial effects of flavones on the relation between gut microbiota, immune and adipocyte homeostasis, and their impact on controlling and treating obesity.
