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Fat Bacteria in Human Guts Tied to Obesity
NPR - All Things Considered ^ | Nell Boyce

Posted on 12/20/2006 6:43:34 PM PST by Kitten Festival

Many people worry about putting on a few pounds during the holiday season. But when you reach for a Christmas cookie, keep in mind that you're not the only one who's going to enjoy that tasty treat: It will also get eaten by the bacteria living in your gut.

And it turns out that the kind of bacteria living there may affect how much weight you gain. Until a couple of years ago, scientists didn't have the tools to figure out exactly what lives in a person's digestive tract. But with new genetic probes, they can do a kind of census.

The researchers found that "obese bacteria" might lead to more weight gain. The bacteria have genes that make them better at harvesting calories from food.

Jeffrey Gordon studies bacteria at Washington University in St. Louis. He says that the trillions of bacteria help us break down food that, otherwise, we couldn't digest.

"They're able to persist in the gut despite this continuous flow of Diet Coke, burgers, whatever," Gordon says, "in this very dynamic ecosystem, called our gut."

(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: bacteria; epidemic; gut; loseweight; obesity; weightloss
Why do I think NPR had fun reporting this?

I bet it was the first fun they ever had in their lives.

1 posted on 12/20/2006 6:43:39 PM PST by Kitten Festival
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To: Kitten Festival

good bacteria
bad bacteria
good eggs
bad eggs
good bread
bad bread
good booze
bad booze

There once was a horse named Louis...


2 posted on 12/20/2006 6:45:29 PM PST by edcoil (Reality doesn't say much - doesn't need too)
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To: Kitten Festival

Eating carrots and left wing propaganda is a thin gruel indeed.


3 posted on 12/20/2006 6:47:49 PM PST by SnuffaBolshevik
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To: Kitten Festival

I wasn't able to finish the article. I just didn't have the stomach for it.


4 posted on 12/20/2006 6:47:55 PM PST by BipolarBob (Scarfe diem - sneeze the day)
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To: Kitten Festival

Ah, HA! Diet and exercise my butt.


5 posted on 12/20/2006 6:48:04 PM PST by dsc
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To: edcoil

There once was a horse named Louis...who got really drunk on Shavuot...


6 posted on 12/20/2006 6:48:59 PM PST by zarf
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To: BipolarBob

ROFLMBO


7 posted on 12/20/2006 7:26:01 PM PST by Frwy (Eternity without Jesus is a hell-of-a long time.)
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To: Kitten Festival

I used to dismiss "findings" such as this out-of-hand, but having testing a few of them....I was surprised. Yes, most of the stuff you read about, homeopathic/natural/organic whatever is "spam", junk science, and/or capitalist propaganda. Some things are slowly being researched and verified to be true or worthwhile. The same (deserved) rhetoric I see here was in play about 10 years ago when H. Pylori was discovered by an Aussie doctor. Now it is generally accepted that H. Pylori causes 70%+ of all stomach ulcers (not stress, or spicy food etc.). Your regular family doctor is only going to tell you what is AMA approved and lawsuit-proof and expedient. That doesn't make it right,true, or everything you need to know........Eat more yogurt and less processed sugar is the anwser not given in the article IMHO, it works for me. It only gets deeper when you start looking, but machines such as "Rife frequencie generators" and "infrared saunas" are all the rage now. I have personal experience that some of these types of new-fangled things work.


8 posted on 12/20/2006 7:29:30 PM PST by Phil Southern (Dirt is for growin' taters, asphault is for racin')
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To: little jeremiah

ping


9 posted on 12/20/2006 7:59:00 PM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: metmom

It's not my fault! It's THEIR fault!

;-)

Actually, I spent the first 45 years of my life not being overweight (well, a year or two here and there). Than - in my late 40s - wham!

Those horrid little bacteria just snuck in somehow or other.


10 posted on 12/20/2006 8:29:12 PM PST by little jeremiah (Only those who thirst for truth can know truth.)
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To: Kitten Festival

So you could give Oprah a penicillin shot and she'd get skinny?

Somehow I doubt it...


11 posted on 12/20/2006 8:48:43 PM PST by Redbob
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To: edcoil

bump


12 posted on 12/20/2006 8:55:32 PM PST by GOPJ (Male homosexuality-worse for your health than sugar, transfats, obesity, and SUV's together.)
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To: Phil Southern
I have personal experience that some of these types of new-fangled things work.

...and I remember reading and hearing personal testimonials about pyramids, crystals, & 'psionic circuits', too.

Yoghurt I'll go along with, but the contraptions, I'll remain very leary of.

13 posted on 12/20/2006 11:55:48 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (Islam: a Satanically Transmitted Disease, spread by unprotected intimate contact with the Koranus.)
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To: Redbob
So you could give Oprah a penicillin shot and she'd get skinny?

Might work.

I lost a pretty decent amount of weight several years ago, by taking IV antibiotics over a two week period.

You'll never convince me that it wasn't the drugs, or that it had anything to do with not being able (nor allowed!) to eat, due to severe pancreatitis & gall bladder disease. ;-)

14 posted on 12/21/2006 12:00:33 AM PST by ApplegateRanch (Islam: a Satanically Transmitted Disease, spread by unprotected intimate contact with the Koranus.)
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To: Kitten Festival
Many people worry about putting on a few pounds during the holiday season. But when you reach for a Christmas cookie, keep in mind that you're not the only one who's going to enjoy that tasty treat: It will also get eaten by the bacteria living in your gut.

I guess it can't be too much food and not enough exercise. :) I worked on a freight crew at a Home Depot after getting laid off of a programming job. I was in great shape, but still slightly overweight. After finally getting back into my old profession, my weight went back up with my salary. :( So now I spend my lunch breaks on a treadmill.

15 posted on 12/21/2006 8:57:21 AM PST by Hacksaw (I)
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To: Kitten Festival

Obese bacteria? Do they get cardio problems?


16 posted on 12/21/2006 8:59:16 AM PST by RightWhale (RTRA DLQS GSCW)
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To: Hacksaw

That's my story too.

I took a low-wage retail job at a big box precisely because I needed to get into shape. Nothing wears you down physically like retail, (well, maybe construction, I don't see many fat construction workers) so it's inevitable that you get into shape. Being in shape made me more attractive at job interviews so I eventually got a real job. But after that, back at the computer, it was the battle of the bulge all over again!


17 posted on 12/21/2006 10:52:12 AM PST by Kitten Festival
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To: Kitten Festival
These people are obviously bacteriaphobic.

So, when can I start buying Bacteroidetes supplements at Wal*Mart?
18 posted on 12/21/2006 10:58:30 AM PST by upchuck (How to win the WOT? Simple: set our rules of engagement to at least match those of our enemy.)
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