Is Obesity Bugging You?
Mar
9Posted in [Weight] By LifeWayKefir LifeWayKefir
3/9/2010 1:35 PM
If you’re having a difficult time sticking to your New Year’s resolution to lose 10 pounds, there might be someone – or some thing – to blame, other than your penchant for late night snacking. New research out of Emory University, Cornell University and the University of Colorado at Boulder suggests that intestinal bacteria called gut microflora may be conspiring against you, making your store excess fat when all you want is to be thin.
Emory’s Andrew Gewirtz led the newest study on the topic, which appears in the latest Science Express, after he and his colleagues became intrigued by a link they’d noticed between gut microflora and weight; they found that lab mice missing a certain protein harbored more of these bugs than other animals..and weighed about 15% more.The bigger mice also possessed higher levels of inflammation, which may have contributed to the extra pounds by promoting a condition called metabolic syndrome, which places individuals at increased risk of coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes. "People may be eating too much because their appetite is stronger due to a low-grade inflammation they have, which could be due to changes in their gut bacteria relative to what their grandparents or someone else might have had 50 years ago," Gewirtz told Time magazine. Applying the logic to humans, he said "we know that to gain weight and become obese, [it] requires you to eat more. The question is, Why do people eat more? Our results suggest that one reason people might be eating more is because of changes in their intestinal bacteria."
At Lifeway, we’re wondering if the use of probiotics may have an impact on chasing these obesity-related gut bugs. We already know (and are backed by science) that the introduction of “good,” healthy bacteria, aka probiotics, can favorably alter the intestinal microflora. That’s why kefir helps soothe irritated tummies, prevent antibiotic-fueled infections, oost immunity and more. What if drinking kefir could help conquer obesity on a physiological level? University of Tennessee-Knoxville research already proves that low-fat dairy has been linked to weight loss…let’s drink to more research being conducted in this exciting field.
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