Too fat? Blame the bacteria in your gut
Source: Agencies |
March 6, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
GERMS that make their home in the gut may help cause obesity and a range of health-threatening symptoms that go along with it, researchers reported in the latest issue of the journal Science.
It could be that certain bacteria cause inflammation that can affect appetite as well as inflammatory bowel conditions like Crohn's disease and colitis, the researchers said.
In other words, the germs make you overeat, Andrew Gewirtz of Emory University in Atlanta and colleagues reported.
"Previous research has suggested that bacteria can influence how well energy is absorbed from food, but these findings demonstrate that intestinal bacteria can actually influence appetite," Gewirtz said.
"The obesity epidemic is driven by people eating too much, but why are people eating more?"
Gewirtz said the research suggests that bacteria may play a role -- perhaps a population of bacteria that thrive because other, competing organisms have been wiped out by antibiotics, access to clean water and other factors of modern life.
His team stumbled on the findings by accident. "We were studying mice that had colitis," Gewirtz said.
The team suspected some kind of germ was responsible, so they transferred mouse embryos into surrogate mothers to prevent them from being infected by their own mothers.
The colitis became better but the baby mice became obese and developed metabolic syndrome -- a cluster of symptoms that include unhealthy cholesterol levels, too much fat around the midsection, high blood pressure and insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance means the body does not use insulin effectively.
It could be that certain bacteria cause inflammation that can affect appetite as well as inflammatory bowel conditions like Crohn's disease and colitis, the researchers said.
In other words, the germs make you overeat, Andrew Gewirtz of Emory University in Atlanta and colleagues reported.
"Previous research has suggested that bacteria can influence how well energy is absorbed from food, but these findings demonstrate that intestinal bacteria can actually influence appetite," Gewirtz said.
"The obesity epidemic is driven by people eating too much, but why are people eating more?"
Gewirtz said the research suggests that bacteria may play a role -- perhaps a population of bacteria that thrive because other, competing organisms have been wiped out by antibiotics, access to clean water and other factors of modern life.
His team stumbled on the findings by accident. "We were studying mice that had colitis," Gewirtz said.
The team suspected some kind of germ was responsible, so they transferred mouse embryos into surrogate mothers to prevent them from being infected by their own mothers.
The colitis became better but the baby mice became obese and developed metabolic syndrome -- a cluster of symptoms that include unhealthy cholesterol levels, too much fat around the midsection, high blood pressure and insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance means the body does not use insulin effectively.
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