Foster Bugs Inside Yourself For Weight Loss

How would you like to put a bug in your stomach?

Researchers have learned in the past few years there are some organisms that promote thinness and other triggering weight gain. In a twin study, researchers identified a microbe that appears to keep waistlines trim--and that gene influence its abundance. According to geneticist Oluf Pedersen of the University of Copenhagen, this is the first evidence in proving the human gut can be genetically controlled.

In previous twin studies, no genetic connections were identified between microbiome diversity and abundance; however these studies looked at microbiome diversity as a whole. The new study takes a species-by-species approach. By sequencing and analyzing DNA from the fecal samples, more than 9600 genetically distinct microbial "species". While most of the microbe varied according to environmental factors, some were apparently influenced by genetics because they are more similar in identical twins than fraternal twins.    

The recently discovered microbes comes from a family of bacteria called "Christensenellaceae." This family was most abundant in lean twins and rare in obese ones. To see how this bacteria family influence weight, fecal material from lean and obese twins in germ-free mice. The mice gained weight just as expected, however when the obese twin mice were presented with Christensenella minuta, the mice stayed lean.

This article was definitely interesting to read. I've always seen a show known as "The Monsters That Lives Inside Me" so that was my first thought when the idea of putting a bug inside our body to promote weight loss. I understand that being obese can be due to genetics, but I wonder if there is nothing a healthy diet, exercise, and a bit of encouragement cannot due. Humans have been taking looking for other ways instead of the cheapest and efficient way to stay healthy; such as sucking fat out the body surgically. I hope that humans would not go to the extreme to host a weight-loss organism inside our body just to meet the demands of society.

Article: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/346/6210/687.full  

Related article: http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/41395/title/Gut-Microbiome-Heritability/