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With the further studies in ratios of gut microbes found in people of varying weights, there are different treatments also being performed on people that undergo bypass surgery to alter the gut microbes to sustain weight loss.

A variety of microbial communities and their genes (the microbiome) exist throughout the human body, with fundamental roles in human health and disease. The National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Human Microbiome Project Consortium has established a population-scale framework to develop metagenomic protocols, resulting in a broad range of quality-controlled resources and data including standardized methods for creating, processing and interpreting distinct types of high-throughput metagenomic data available to the scientific community. An ambitious article found in another article I enjoyed reading. Was incredibly interested to find out that the vaginal microbiota of pregnant women was significantly different from non-pregnant and to find that these microbiota are preparing the soon to be born baby with it's own microbiota!! (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/science/studies-of-human-microbiome-yield-new-insights.html?ref=microbiology)

New research, conducted in collaboration with researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, has found that the gut microbes of mice undergo drastic changes following gastric bypass surgery. This is quite an astounding discovery. Finding ways to manipulate microbial populations can potentially open doors for alternatives to weight loss and fighting off bacteria.

This is an interesting story on how the microbiota of our gut may play an indirect role in cardiovascular disease.