misunderestimation

Some new information is coming out today about the role bacteria may have on obesity:

The guts of obese people are teeming with a distinctive mix of bacteria that seem to make them prone to gaining weight, a startling discovery that could lead to new ways to fight the obesity epidemic, researchers reported today.

Obese people have more gut microbes that are especially efficient at extracting calories from food, the researchers said, and the proportion of these super-digesting organisms ebbs as they lose weight. Moreover, when the scientists transplanted gut microbes from obese mice into lean mice, the thin animals start getting fat, providing more support for the provocative theory that the bacteria that populate the gut play an important role in regulating weight.

The study was published in today’s issue of Nature and has some interesting findings:

”We are getting more and more evidence to show that obesity isn’t what we thought it used to be,” [Louisiana State University's Nikhil] Dhurandhar said. ”It isn’t just, you’re eating too much and you’re lazy.”

This could be a major step forward in understanding and treating obesity. The question on my mind is, how does one get bacterial in their gut?

People are born germ-free, but within days they have a gut blooming with microbes. The microbes come from first foods _ either breast milk or formula _ the exterior environment, and the way the babies are born, said Stanford University medicine and microbiology professor David Relman, who was not part of the study.

For decades, doctors have treated bacteria in a “warlike” manner, yet recent research shows that “most encounters we have with microbes are very beneficial,” Gordon said.

So, all the sterilizing we do of bottles, formula, pacifiers, baby food, etc. may actually be preventing the proper bacterial from entering the body? That’s irony for you!

FuturePundit: There’s an obvious opening here for yogurt makers? Can bacterial blends for yogurt get formulated to encourage the flourishing of bacteria that keep the weight off?

TexasFred: Well, for crying out loud, get that bacteria isolated and let’s ALL lose that ‘gut’, I guess I’ve had the bacteria all my life, even when I was in TOP physical condition I had a bit of a ‘pot belly’… Some folks just call it ’seniority’…

Innocent Bystanders: We need some more research to find out if a diet of Jack Daniels and Marlboro Lights actually promotes the right kind of bugs.

Irregular Times: I’m not suggesting that people go out and live on a diet of pure candy, or stop exercising. I am suggesting, however, that the diet and exercise evangelists might want to lay off on the moral judgment of those whose bodies don’t measure up to their standards, at least until additional research comes along to refine our ideas of what microbial communities in our guts have to do with the shape of our guts.

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