You are what you eat...you are what your gut eats. Confirmation of the influence of the GI microbiota on calorie utilization.
We shouldn't be surprised by this: what do we do to cattle? we give them antibiotics which increases their weight and time to market. What are we doing to ourselves?
gut bacteria differentiate obese versus non-obese. Association found b/t firmicutes:bacteroidetes, increased Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria; in addition, acute, propionate, and butyrate (all medium chain fatty acids) were found to be associated with obesity.
HFD found to alter gut bacteria with increase in weight gain. A return to normal diet did not see a return to the previous gut bacteria balance. Subsequent HFD resulted in a significantly higher weight gain than the first.
Research suggests that the gut microbiome may determine the effectiveness of therapy. The future may be to determine the gut micrboiome, which will then dictate therapy.
It is proposed that the balance of bacteria in the gut play a critical role in energy utilization and obesity. This study showed that bypass surgery altered the gut bacteria to favor weight loss: decrease in firmicutes species. But, do we really need gastric bypass to do that? Of course not. Probiotics will do the same.
the gut bacterial balance in overweight women is distinctly different than normal weight women during pregnancy. We know that bacterial balance in the infants plays a pivotal role in obesity risk. Maybe, probiotic and gut health in the pregnant mother is the starting point to preventing obesity risk in children