Gut bacteria in obese people is different in that of thin people, and researchers are exploring whether taking probiotics to change the bacteria may help with weight loss.
"Although the root cause of obesity is excess caloric intake compared with expenditure, differences in gut microbial ecology between humans may be an important factor affecting energy homeostasis; i.e., individuals predisposed to obesity may have gut microbial communities that promote more efficient extraction and/or storage of energy from a given diet, compared with these communities in lean individuals," according to research
published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Initial studies indicate that gut bacteria impact weight loss, although more information is needed.
Medical News Today reported on one mice study that determined some gut bacteria slowed the burning of different types of fat in the body.
In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation in 2014, mice were given a compound created from bacteria and it was found the mice given that modified bacteria "had significantly reduced food intake, body fat, adiposity (body fat) and hepatosteatosis (fatty liver), compared with the mice that received the control bacteria,"
Medical News Today said.
It's a complicated world medical researchers are delving into, and the causal relationships between bacteria in the body and many health conditions like obesity are unclear. But the relationships are verified frequently. For instance, even in babies, researchers are pinpointing how bacteria may cause future problems. Babies who are formula-fed and those delivered by Caesarean-section are more likely to develop obesity and diabetes,
Scientific American reported. What scientists studying the issue have discovered is that as babies go through the birth canal and are breastfed, their systems are colonized by the mother's bacteria.
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"According to a recent Canadian study, babies drinking formula have bacteria in their gut that are not seen in breast-fed babies until solid foods are introduced. Their presence before the gut and immune system are mature, says (researcher Maria Gloria) Dominguez-Bello, may be one reason these babies are more susceptible to allergies, asthma, eczema and celiac disease, as well as obesity," SA wrote.
Other studies are beginning to make the link between gut bacteria, probiotics, and obesity, as well.
In the British Journal of Nutrition, a study reported that women, but not men, who took a probiotic every day during a 12-week weight-loss diet and a 12-week maintenance period lost more weight on the diet and continued to lose weight on the maintenance plan. The probiotics strain in the study was Lactobacillus rhamnosus CGMCC1.3724.
The men in the study, however, did not seem to be impacted by the probiotic supplements, the journal said.
While probiotics may not offer a cure for obesity right now, exploring the link may offer future hope.
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