Symbiotic bacteria discovery adds new twist to obesity research.

[DeerDeer]

Symbiotic bacteria discovery adds new twist to obesity research. In a front page article, USA Today (12/21, 1A, Weise) reports that two new studies published in today's edition of Nature "show that there are different colonies of bacteria in the intestines of the obese than there are in the innards of the slim," and that "the microbes in an overweight body are more efficient at extracting calories from food." Firmicutes bacteria "were more plentiful in the obese than in the lean," and "bacteroidetes were less abundant than in normal-weight subjects." Study co-author Sam Klein, professor of gastroenterology at Washington University in St. Louis, said that the "findings open up a new area of research."
In another front page article, the Los Angeles Times (12/21, A1, Maugh) adds, "The same disparity was found in mice, and giving lean mice the bacteria from fat animals caused them to gain weight, the researchers said." When obese lost weight, "the proportions of bacteria in their digestive system -- initially similar to that of the obese mice -- changed as the subjects lost weight, with the number of Firmicutes decreasing and the number of Bacteroidetes increasing." However, "experts cautioned that it was too soon to manipulate gut bacteria in the hopes of becoming slimmer."
Also in a front page story, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (12/21, A1, Toner) notes that the researchers "acknowledge that obese people may simply have more of those bacteria by virtue of having higher body fat." Still, they say "coping with obesity will be more complicated than just following the old mantra to 'eat less and exercise more.'"
The Washington Post (12/21, A12, Stein) reports that even though "the researchers acknowledged that the difference in the number of calories extracted by the microbes is relatively small," they say that "over time even a small differential could be significant." The Post says that this "startling discovery" has "produced enthusiasm and caution from other researchers."
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune /AP (12/21, Borenstein) adds that Nikhil Dhurandhar, a professor of infection and obesity at Louisiana State University's Pennington Biomedical Research Center, "said the field of 'infectobesity' looks at obesity with multiple causes, including viruses and microbes. In another decade or so, the different causes of obesity could have different treatments."

 

[prld2gr8ns]

I think this may belong in the article review section of the board there dd. That being said, it's interesting to here about the microflora composition and it's relation to obesity research. Very novel finding in my opinion, and it just goes to show how neglected gastro-entero research is in the clinical field. You would have thought others would have looked at this possiblity by now...... interesting.

 

[dsade]

Saw this last night, and have already sent an inquiry to my probiotic supplier.

I'm curious to see experiments with the first type of bacteria.

 

[DeerDeer]

I thought about the other probiotic thread you started - look sVERY promising!

Saw this last night, and have already sent an inquiry to my probiotic supplier.

I'm curious to see experiments with the first type of bacteria.

 

[dsade]

I thought about the other probiotic thread you started - look sVERY promising!

Definitely.

I am also wondering about other applications of this...perhaps shifting the balance towards weight gain after surgery, or giving the weight gain bacteria to soldiers before extended deployments.

 

[00126645]

Saw a related doucmentary program ("Mad Labs") on this.

When scientists grew mice in a perfectly sterile environment ( they c-sectioned out the baby mice and fed them sterile food), these mice grew up without ANY bacteria inside them. As a result they suck at extracting nutrients from their food. These sterile mice can eat more than the regular mice, yet they still weigh the same. But once the scientists infected these sterile mice with normal bacteria (by swabbing these mice with swabs used to swab normal mice), these sterile mice became "normal" again.

 

[dsade]

EXACTLY..shameless pimp coming....

That is why we are releasing our new probiotic. I think this will be the next big area in not only Bodybuilding, but general health.

We have data showing decreased ammonia excretions (which means greater nitrogen retention/digestion) using probiotics.

As a matter of fact, I would love to have some interested people start testing....if interested shoot me a PM.

::end shameless pimp:::

The modern diet really plays havoc with the natural balance of intestinal organisms, leading to disease, malnutrition, mineral imbalances, and all kinds of nasty stuff - including, it seems, a tendency to be obese.

 

[Gokmog]

I sure could use some of that bacteria. I seem to be hungry all the time, and at work that is a bad experience.

I need to start deep kissing lots of fat chicks.

 

[ItsHectic]

I read about this yesterday also, could be a nice little break through for obesity.

 

[dsade]

I think its usefulness will depend on the way it is positioned. I have some fantastic ideas with this, but if whoever gets it to market first approaches it retardedly (magic bullet cure-all), then people will become disillusioned with the whole probiotic approach.

 

[prld2gr8ns]

Well dsade, you pimp the product might as well pimp your ideas to. I'm understanding that Firmicutes bacteria(from what you've posted) is what your looking into, hence the more extraction of calories and all around nutritient partition for any said diet. So I take it that your looking into it for more of a weight gain/nutrition improvement type of formula, which may have it's uses outside of bodybuilding and more into the disease areas that suffer from chronic nutrition malabsorption aka crohns, celiac, irritable bowel disease/syndroms, colitis etc, etc.

If so, I think this may very well be a very novel and new approach for supplementation in general.

 

[dsade]

Well dsade, you pimp the product might as well pimp your ideas to. I'm understanding that Firmicutes bacteria(from what you've posted) is what your looking into, hence the more extraction of calories and all around nutritient partition for any said diet. So I take it that your looking into it for more of a weight gain/nutrition improvement type of formula, which may have it's uses outside of bodybuilding and more into the disease areas that suffer from chronic nutrition malabsorption aka crohns, celiac, irritable bowel disease/syndroms, colitis etc, etc.

If so, I think this may very well be a very novel and new approach for supplementation in general.

Exactly. Combined with something like SesaThin, the product could be a whole new approach to overall health and diet control, as well as immunomodulation.

I am actually heading out the door for a meeting with the ProB guy in a few minutes. I should know pretty quick if he can obtain this strain for testing.

 

[prld2gr8ns]

Let us know what you come up with.

 

[Gokmog]

I like to use the "Vibra-Gest" blended in with my banana smoothies. The banana is a good pre-biotic and the vibra-gest of course not only helps break down the longer lasting banana fruit faster but supplies the bacteria.

But I get so hungry. When I ramp up my metabolism (staying off metabolic inhibitors in common foods and enhancing metabolism with foods like the seaweeds) and give my metabolism some real projects to work on (such as a weight training conditioned body) I become a furnace that burns meat up. And loading in the carbs drives my insulin up, which makes me hungrier. Meat of course just burns up easy, being an O. It's fat that can sustain me beyond the 3rd hour. And I need plenty of it. Ectomorphic weight training Os in the know have to struggle just to keep the weight. I could really use all the help I can get.

What I find interesting is how the intestinal flora can effect the health of a woman's genitalia. Somehow they travel and influence the balance of the reproductive environment. And the immune system stuff.

I seem to get a bottomless pit. I think about what I hear about the inevitabilities of aging.. but given how different I am on this blood-type diet and how I can drastically change my metabolism with the foods and the exercise I wonder if I would be thankful for a slower metabolism when I get older. Eating like this all the time gets tiring. Part of the appeal of alcohol is how it can change my appetite, but then again it does help with glucose control, not a diabetes cure or anything but it has also made me quite ravenous as my physiology catches up. It's drinking to excess (or what is relatively excessive to me) that gives me a window of freedom from the growling beast that rages within. So I did the vodka, wine and brandy and rum comparisons and always used the B complex (especially thiamine) and C and NAC (before, as discussed on this board) and the milk thistle and turmeric and maybe some other stuff and "got away" with some alcoholism. But it's still kind of a downer, even if I can feel great the next day, because I don't get the uplifting experience of the workouts. I went on a break for a few weeks, to rest and reset my bod, and rest my mind. I liked not always thinking about what food projects I have waiting, procuring more food for the next projects, thawing projects, re-arranging food storage projects, and of course eating all the food and making the meals for work and snacks if I'm out on courier missions beyond the normal schedule.

Man, I'll never be good at storing the energy but at least someday I can get more out of my food. I definently want to extract the most I can out of my food. It only makes sense. If you don't waste food outside the body, why waste it inside the body? I'm enough of a burdon on the world's resources, even if much of my meat is grass-fed from non feedlot farming practices.