Balance Of Gut Bacteria: The Key To Weight Loss?
Americans love convenience and this is best seen in the lifestyle we live
. Many homes have pantries lined with instant foods which are highly processed and loaded with artificial ingredients, preservatives, and unwanted calories. And instead of preparing a home cooked meal, we stick TV dinners in the microwave or order delivery. Such foods are full of sugars and harmful trans fat. Convenient yes, but healthy no.
Indeed, the basic diet of most Americans is one that slowly destroys the body. However, scientists are now looking into the possibility of other factors aside from diet or physical activity that affect weight gain. There is now a new theory which says that being prone to weight gain may be due to the nature of the balance of bacteria in a dieter's intestinal tract.
At childbirth, millions of bacteria invade a newborn infant's digestive system. By the age of two years, this bacteria community is almost complete and performing its many different functions such as vitamin production and digestion. At the same time, it is also believed that these bacteria also determine whether or not you are susceptible to weight gain or not.
In your intestines are two types of bacteria bacteriodetes and firmicutes. Extracting the calories from the food you take in is just one of the several functions these internal bacteria perform. This is the angle that scientists are currently exploring hoping to find answers to the question of why some people gain weight more easily than others.
Recent studies done on mice and humans found that those with more firmicutes in their intestines extracted significantly more calories from the same amount of food than those who had more bacteroidetes. What this means is that if two people of the same weight ate the same quantity of food, the one with more firmicutes in his or her intestines would absorb more calories and therefore would be more prone to weight gain.
One study involved a dozen obese people who were given a special diet to follow for one year. At the beginning of the study, the gut bacteria of the participants were mostly firmicutes. But when they started to lose weight, the researchers found that the balance of intestinal bacteria had increased in favor of bacteroidetes. In fact the bacterial balance became very much like that of lean people. Along with this, there are other similar studies that have prompted researchers to explore other non-traditional theories to account for the fact that there are there are people who gain weight more easily than others.
This new theory may lead to an altogether different approach to weight loss dieting. Perhaps it would be one which involves the creation of a balance of intestinal bacteria favorable to weight loss. However, research is still ongoing and as we wait for indubitable proof for the theory in question, the best weight loss solution remains to be the time-tested combination of a balanced diet and regular exercise.
by: Charles Volcolatte
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