Bacteria that live in the gut have been used to reverse obesity and Type-2 diabetes in animal studies.
The human body is teeming with bacteria - the tiny organisms outnumber human cells in the body 10 to one.
And there is growing evidence that this collection of bacteria or "microbiome" affects health.
Obesity Studies have shown differences between the types and numbers of bacteria in the guts of lean and obese people.
Prof Patrice Cani Catholic University of LouvainWe did not completely reverse the obesity, but it is a very strong decrease in the fat mass”
Meanwhile gastric bypass operations have been shown to change the balance of bacteria in the gut.
Researchers at the Catholic University of Louvain, in Belgium, worked with a single species of bacteria Akkermansia muciniphila. It normally makes up 3-5% of gut bacteria, but its levels fall in obesity. Mice on a high fat diet - which led them to put on two to three times more fat than normal, lean, mice - were fed the bacteria.
The mice remained bigger than their lean cousins, but had lost around half of their extra weight despite no other changes to their diet.
They also had lower levels of insulin resistance, a key symptom of Type-2 diabetes.
Prof Patrice Cani, from the Catholic University of Louvain, told the BBC: "Of course it is an improvement, we did not completely reverse the obesity, but it is a very strong decrease in the fat mass.
Prof Colin Hill University College CorkI don't think it's feasible that you can eat cream cakes and chips and sausages all day long and then eat bacteria to reverse all that”
"It is the first demonstration that there is a direct link between one specific species and improving metabolism."
Link here.
4 comments:
I also just read on the Johnny Bowden blog that gut flora are the new big thing in obesity research. I am going out to eat mud now. I'm sure it's teeming with good bacteria.
AliB was saying this years ago on forums. I will post up more on this later.
Regards Eddie
There is a lot on the gut bacteria issue on the Dr. Art Ayers blog http://coolinginflammation.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the link Galina, will be looking into this further
All the best Jan
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