Bacteria That Make You Fat?

Cohen · Dec 20, 2006

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061220/ap_on_he_me/diet_obesity_microbes_1

Weight may be linked to type of bacteria By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON - The size of your gut may be partly shaped by which microbes call it home, according to new research linking obesity to types of digestive bacteria.

Both obese mice — and people — had more of one type of bacteria and less of another kind, according to two studies published Thursday in the journal Nature.

A "microbial component" appears to contribute to obesity, said study lead author Jeffrey Gordon, director of Washington University's Center for Genome Sciences.

Obese humans and mice had a lower percentage of a family of bacteria called Bacteroidetes and more of a type of bacteria called Firmicutes, Gordon and his colleagues found.

The researchers aren't sure if more Firmicutes makes you fat or if people who are obese grow more of that type of bacteria.

But growing evidence of this link gives scientists a potentially new and still distant way of fighting obesity: Change the bacteria in the intestines and stomach. It also may lead to a way of fighting malnutrition in the developing world.

Nikhil Dhurandhar, a professor of infection and obesity at Louisiana State University's Pennington Biomedical Research Center, wasn't part of the research, but said it may change the way obesity is treated eventually.

"We are getting more and more evidence to show that obesity isn't what we thought it used to be," Dhurandhar said. "It isn't just (that) you're eating too much and you're lazy."

He said the field of "infectobesity" looks at obesity with multiple causes, including viruses and microbes. In another decade or so, the different causes of obesity could have different treatments. The current regimen of diet and exercise "is like treating all fevers with one aspirin," Dhurandhar said.

In one study, Gordon and colleagues looked at what happened in mice with changes in bacteria level. When lean mice with no germs in their guts had larger ratios of Firmicutes transplanted, they got "twice as fat" and took in more calories from the same amount of food than mice with the more normal bacteria ratio, said Washington University microbiology instructor Ruth Ley, a study co-author.

It was as if one group got far more calories from the same bowl of Cheerios than the other, Gordon said.

In a study of dozen dieting people, the results also were dramatic.

Before dieting, about 3 percent of the gut bacteria in the obese participants was Bacteroidetes. But after dieting, the now normal-sized people had much higher levels of Bacteroidetes — close to 15 percent, Gordon said.

"I think that gut bacteria affects body weight," said Virginia Commonwealth University pathology professor Richard Atkinson, who wasn't part of the research team and is president of Obetech Obesity Research Center in Richmond. "I don't think there's any doubt about that and they showed that."

The growing field of research puts more importance in the trillions of microbes that live in our guts and elsewhere, crediting it with everything from generations of people getting taller to increases in diabetes and asthma.

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.

"Much of who we are and what we can do and can't do as human beings is directly related to microbial inhabitants," Relman said.
Click to expand...

percicles · Dec 20, 2006

This is not the news I needed to hear. I'm trying to get down to single digit body fat%. I going hungry here son!!!!!

JuanValdez · Dec 20, 2006

Wow, that's cool.

MR. MEOWGI · Dec 20, 2006

I fry my bacteria and dip them in ranch dressing.

StupidMoniker · Dec 20, 2006

It's not my fault I'm a ******, I just have the wrong bacteria.

Sishir Chang · Dec 20, 2006

StupidMoniker said:

It's not my fault I'm a ******, I just have the wrong bacteria.
Click to expand...

I bet that's what Bonzi told JVG.

swilkins · Dec 20, 2006

I lost 35 pounds (220 to 185), since my issues last summer. I had to change the way I spend, so I cut out the unnecessary things, including alcohol. I have also learned from life's challenges and feel I am a better man, because of it. I have a healthier mind and don't think about the negative as much.

Maybe those bacteria feed on fears and weaknesses, because I had plenty.

As within, so without.

Cohen · Dec 20, 2006

percicles said:

This is not the news I needed to hear. I'm trying to get down to single digit body fat%. I going hungry here son!!!!!
Click to expand...

I was down to a little over 6% back in college...(I'm just a bit more now )

What are you doing to get down? If you're hungry all of the time, you might be making it difficult since your body can respond by slowing your metabolism in response to the hunger.

Cohen · Dec 20, 2006

MR. MEOWGI said:

I fry my bacteria and dip them in ranch dressing.
Click to expand...

...

bladeage · Dec 20, 2006

swilkins said:

As within, so without.
Click to expand...

without what?

Mr. Brightside · Dec 21, 2006

percicles said:

This is not the news I needed to hear. I'm trying to get down to single digit body fat%. I going hungry here son!!!!!
Click to expand...

How much cardio do you do per day or per week?

I've been running about 5 miles a day, 4 days a week for the past year and I'm down to 11% body fat. Actually it should be lower than 10% but I have a very slow metabolism.

I've been training harder in recent months so hopefully I'll get there. A big part of my gains were from cutting out all refined sugar from my diet.

My protein intake also was low for a good many years. I was under 100 grams of protein per day, but now have kicked it back above 120 grams per day. Alot of lean muscle I've gained is due to this.

I should be taking 160 grams of protein per day, but my mind feels foggy if I take too much protein. I've been able to shed 20lbs of fat, and add 12 lbs of muscle over the past two years. Most of my gains have been in the past 6 months though.

I always tell people starting out exercising that the greatest motivator to exercise is seeing hard fought gains. It pushes you to train harder.

Mr. Clutch · Dec 21, 2006

percicles said:

This is not the news I needed to hear. I'm trying to get down to single digit body fat%. I going hungry here son!!!!!
Click to expand...

Don't worry, exercise and eating healthy works, despite researchers that try to prove the opposite. I have lost many pounds exercising and eating less, gained it back, and lost it again.,

Sam18 · Dec 21, 2006

I wonder how much bacteria Shaq eats.

Forums

Bacteria That Make You Fat?

Cohen Member

percicles Member

JuanValdez Member

MR. MEOWGI Contributing Member

StupidMoniker I lost a bet

Sishir Chang Member

swilkins Member

Cohen Member

Cohen Member

bladeage Member

Mr. Brightside Member

Mr. Clutch Member

Sam18 Member

Share This Page

About ClutchFans

Rockets Content

Support ClutchFans!