Landmark Chinese study: Intestinal bacteria control obesity

[NobleSavage]

The world of obesity science is about to be turned on its head. Scientists in Shanghai, China announced in a paper published Dec. 13 that they had isolated a bacterium from a 385-pound man’s intestines, and used it to plump up mice that are specially bred to resist obesity.

They found that the bacteria, a toxin-producing microbe called ”enterobacter cloacae,” made up 35 percent of all the microorganisms in the human volunteer’s digestive tract. But a diet formulated specifically to kill off those bacteria succeeded in reducing his levels to below what could be detected in a laboratory.

He lost 113 pounds in 23 weeks.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/19/l...tinal-bacteria-control-obesity/#ixzz2ze57tyqR

http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/19/landmark-chinese-study-intestinal-bacteria-control-obesity/

I remain very skeptical.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I'm sure that the fact that his diet during those weeks consisted of nothing more than small pieces of cheese which he was only able to eat after running through a maze had nothing to do with his weight loss and it was all due to this bacteria.

 

[dystopian]

Not sure why you're 'very' skeptical of this; Chinese scientists aren't the only making the claim that intestinal bacteria have a serious impact on obesity. In fact, scientists in the US have done the same sort of experiments with similar results: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gut-bacteria-may-be-key-to-fighting-obesity/

 

[Zeluvia]

This is old news. http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20140220/gut-bacteria-tied-to-obesity-may-vary-with-geography

The correlation between different colonies of intestinal bacteria and obesity has shown up now in multiple studies. No one has answered the why, or has a full understanding of how diet affects your intestinal ecosystem.

http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1969807,00.html

 

[Perspicuo]

Tell me now I get a diet of donuts with yummee sweet bacteriostatic filling Mmmmm...

 

[Musing Man]

No, they have it backwards (the people with the study): it's not that some type of bacteria causes obesity - diet causes obesity. It's just that some type of bacteria thrives alongside with one's belly dimension. The answer is in the diet: eat less carbs, more fat and NO SUGAR.

 

[J842P]

No, they have it backwards (the people with the study): it's not that some type of bacteria causes obesity - diet causes obesity. It's just that some type of bacteria thrives alongside with one's belly dimension. The answer is in the diet: eat less carbs, more fat and NO SUGAR.

That doesn't explain the observations of the study.

 

[Musing Man]

Oh, but it does. Read about the diet involved in this study and please come back.

I know it may not seem so, but it all starts with the diet. NEVER the other way around.

One can make an artificially obese animal by planting some bacteria, or slim it down by reducing it - yes. But the start-up process will be always dictated by diet. The obesity process is also fueled by the very same diet - and THAT is what the study says, with other words and targeted on what I would venture to say a random bacteria. There are hundreds on par with Enterobacter cloacae, which just so happens to find itself in the latter part of the intestinal tract.

Obesity may be epidemic, but it isn't by any means contagious.