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Posted on Jan 03, 2007, 10 a.m.
By Bill Freeman
Maybe it's germs in the gut that are making you fat, according to studies in Thursday's issue of Nature. Researchers found a strong connection between obesity and the levels of certain types of bacteria in the gut. That could mean that someday there will be novel new ways of treating obesity that go beyond the standard advice of diet and exercise.
Maybe it's germs in the gut that are making you fat, according to studies in Thursday's issue of Nature.
Researchers found a strong connection between obesity and the levels of certain types of bacteria in the gut. That could mean that someday there will be novel new ways of treating obesity that go beyond the standard advice of diet and exercise.
The studies said both obese mice and people had more of one type of bacteria and less of another kind.
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.
When Gordon and his team studied 12 obese people who followed low-calorie diets for a year, they found their levels of Bacteroidetes rose as their weight decreased.
"They increased as the weight is lost and in proportion to the amount of weight loss," said Gordon.
Scientists do not yet know if people start out with lower levels of Bacteroidetes or Firmicutes, which may make them prone to obesity.
"These are things we are exploring now. What are the signals between the amount of fat and different groups of bacteria that exist in the gut," said Gordon.
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 future.
