Gut Check

According to new research, a type of bacteria may cause obesity:

According to two studies being published in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature, both obese mice and people had more of one type of bacteria and less of another kind.

A “microbial component” appears to contribute to obesity, said study lead author Jeffrey Gordon, director of Washington University’s Center for Genome Sciences.

Obese humans and mice had a lower percentage of a family of bacteria called Bacteroidetes and more of a type of bacteria called Firmicutes, Gordon and his colleagues found.

The researchers aren’t sure if more Firmicutes makes you fat or if people who are obese grow more of that type of bacteria.

But growing evidence of this link gives scientists a potentially new and still distant way of fighting obesity: Change the bacteria in the intestines and stomach. It also may lead to a way of fighting malnutrition in the developing world.

Who would’ve thought something called “Firmicute” might make people fat? Doesn’t it sound like a new workout system for teenage girls? “I lost 20 pounds on Firmicute, I got a new boyfriend who isn’t on meth, and my SAT scores went up 100 points!”

(Thanks to Sal Becker and Mike Navin for the link.)

Tags: Tags: obesity