A recent study that was reported by Science Translational Medicine on November 11, 2009, finds that bacteria found in the intestines may be a cause of weight gain.
The study was conducted on genetically altered mice lacking their own microorganisms. Human microbes were transplanted into the mice.
When the animals were taken off of a low-fat diet to one made up high fat and simple sugar, the microbial make up changed within twenty-four hours. The mice became fat.
It was also found that microbiota passed from generation to generation, handing down obesity from mother to child.
What does this mean to the general public? Essentially, that a high-fat, high in sugar foods, which is common in the Western world, is responsible for making us all fat. On the one hand there is the over consumption of calorie dense foods, which by itself is bad news. On the other, these types of food may be feeding bacteria within all of us, also causing obesity.
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