ST. LOUIS—New findings linking certain intestinal microbes with obesity prevention may lead to the development of next-generation probiotics that can be added to foods to treat or prevent the disease, according to a new study published in the journal Science [1] . The findings, however, reinforce that diet remains the key factor to preventing obesity.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine transplanted mice with intestinal microbes from lean and obese twins, concluding that altering the microbial mix prevented mice destined for obesity from gaining weight and fat or developing related metabolic problems linked to insulin resistance. The study also settled on the importance of healthy diet, as microbes associated with leanness could not take up residence in mice with “obese" gut microbes unless the animals ate a healthy diet.
The findings point to the intimate connection between gut microbes and diet as a key factor in the path to obesity, setting the stage for next-generation probiotics to treat or prevent the disease.
“Eating a healthy diet encourages microbes associated with leanness to quickly become incorporated into the gut," said senior author Jeffrey I. Gordon, M.D., director of the Center for Genome Sciences & Systems Biology at Washington University. “But a diet high in saturated fat and low in fruits and vegetables thwarts the invasion of microbes associated with leanness. This is important as we look to develop next-generation probiotics as a treatment for obesity."
The research involved identical and fraternal female human twin pairs, ranging in age from 21 to 32, in which one twin is obese and the other lean. As part of the study, the twins’ gut microbes (captured from fecal samples) were transferred into mice that had been raised in a previously microbe-free environment. Because mice naturally eat each other’s feces, the researchers had a chance to observe what happens when a mouse carrying a collection of gut microbes from an obese twin is housed with another mouse carrying gut microbes from the lean twin.
If the animals ate a healthy diet low in saturated fat and high in fruits and vegetables, microbes from the lean twin invaded the gut of the mouse with the obese twin’s microbes, preventing weight gain and the development of metabolic problems associated with insulin resistance. When the animals were fed a diet high in saturated fat and low in fruits and vegetables, there was no colonization of “lean" microbes into the guts of mice carrying microbes from an “obese" twin. These mice gained weight and fat and developed metabolic problems.
The researchers found they could transmit an individual’s body composition and associated metabolic dysfunction to the mice regardless of whether a donor’s gut microbes were first grown in the laboratory or transferred from a fecal sample.
“That’s good news from a therapeutic standpoint because there’s intense interest in identifying microbes that could be used to treat diseases," Gordon said. “Ideally, you want to be able to grow these naturally occurring unmodified human gut microbes in a lab and test whether various combinations of these organisms, with or without specified diet ingredients, can treat and/or prevent disease."
With obesity now responsible for 18% of U.S. deaths[2] , it's more important than ever to develop methods of treating or preventing the disease. The creation of food products to inhibit the disease has been revered the "new frontier" in dietary health[3] , putting science at the forefront of obesity prevention. Other preventative measures include proper labeling[4] and strides toward an overall healthier diet practicing portion control[5] .
References
- ^ Science (www.sciencemag.org)
- ^ obesity now responsible for 18% of U.S. deaths (www.foodproductdesign.com)
- ^ the "new frontier" in dietary health (www.foodproductdesign.com)
- ^ proper labeling (www.foodproductdesign.com)
- ^ portion control (www.foodproductdesign.com)
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