New study shows gut microbes may play a role in obesity.
Each one of us has billions of bacteria residing in our guts, and, according to a recent study, what we feed them daily through diet may be prompting whether or not we lose or gain weight.
Washington University researchers, who published their findings Nov. 11 in Science Translational Medicine, found that diet can make a dramatic difference on which kind of microbial community are flourishing—the obesity-linked versus the lean-linked flora types.
They demonstrated that when they transplanted lean-linked human gut bacteria into bacteria-free mice and then switched the mice from a low-fat, plant polysaccharide-rich diet to a high-fat, high-sugar “Western” diet, the dietary change resulted in altering the microbes “within one day” to an obesity-linked flora type.
Afterward, the researchers transplanted the obesity-linked microbes into a new set of germ-free mice. In spite of a low-fat diet, the second set of mice gained weight in form of body fat.
Probiotics and prebiotics
According to Harvard researchers, this study opens up new possibilities for targeted dietary, probiotic and prebiotic therapies to alter microflora in favor of one that promotes a lean body type.
The diet of choice would be one that was lower in fat and sugar while high in fruits and vegetables. In addition, supplementation with prebiotics and probiotics may be helpful.
Dr. Nicole Kafka, a colon and rectal surgeon and Isagenix Scientific Advisory Board member says, “People usually don’t have enough bacteria or too many bad ones. Prebiotics and probiotics can help to correct improper bacterial balance in the gut.”
A proper balance, in turn, may help you avoid weight gain and lose weight.
Probiotics are supplements or foods, such as yogurt, that contain friendly bacteria, and prebiotics (such as offered in Isagenix FiberPro) are non-digestible ingredients found in fruits and vegetables that help stimulate growth of the friendly bacteria.
