According to the article "This Factor May Indicate Your Risk for Diabetes, Obesity, and Inflammation" from 2012 reporting that a certain type of bacteria can predict whether you can possibly have Type II diabetes. The study states the bacteria in your gut is a better indicator for Type II Diabetes than anything which can be found in the gene pool. The research hypothesized that lean people have different bacteria than people who are obese. Scientists inoculated mice with the bacteria that supposedly make individuals obese, the mice then began gaining weight.
The article continues on about inflammation research dealing with pregnant women in Finnish women. The women have the same bacteria within their gut and displays similar conditions to people with Metabolic Syndrome. (Metabolic Syndrome is a series of conditions in which a person has obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and inflammation). The research links the inflammation on a bacteria called Proteobacteria. They again tested this on mice and the mice also gained weight and had high levels of glucose levels.
In the last section, the article begins talking about eating fermented food rather than probiotic supplements. The fermented foods contain more "good" bacteria that can help the body.
Although this sounds credible, there are no specifics about the name of this bacteria or the company or school the research is coming from. Even if this research were credible, there is also no direct explanation of how this can be an predictor of Type II diabetes within the article expect for one sentence in the very beginning. Throughout the article, the writer remains consistent in the lack of credibility about obesity and inflammation. There were no credible sources of why fermented foods would be a good way to get probiotic bacteria into the body.
Agreed! One of the first alarms that the article set off was the generic "Lean individuals mostly harbor one kind of bacteria, while obese individuals harbor another." This kind of consumer article can be very dangerous and lead to an "It's not my fault" syndrome. As soon as the article indicated differences in bacteria for lean versus obese individuals (without the courtesy of giving them a name), they stated in bold letters, "What this means is that while you may reap temporary rewards from cutting calories and hours spent at the gym, many times the key to weight gain and loss is in the gut."
ReplyDeleteIt is disturbing and negligent to publish such an article. While gut bacteria are known to play a role in inflammation and poor food choices may change the flora in our guts by being pro-inflammatory, exercise, although with its own risks, cannot be ruled out as a proponent for weight loss and reversal of the METS (metabolic syndrome) sequalae.
Thank you, reading the article was interesting but it definitely make you question the credibility of the article itself. To the general public, who don't know any better, make not have noticed and are stuck thinking it isn't their fault, as well as buying the fermented foods to supplement their soon to be lean body!
DeleteLike you said with "Lean individuals mostly harbor one kind of bacteria, while obese individuals harbor another." It leads to the not-my-fault syndrome. This could be part to something the article misses. That the bacterium in your digestion can change! As I learned in microbiology, when you are exposed to different environments (for an extended period of time) the different kinds of bacterium living in you can shift. (They even shift through your lifespan). Lean bodies and obese bodies have their differences. However I'm not sure if this would be enough to change the kinds of bacterium inside of someone or not.
ReplyDeleteBut I would think that point would be a good argument for the article to include "Use our products to help shift your microbiota from hindering to beneficial!"
I learned in microbiology that types of bacterium can change depending on the environment each likes. So if physiologically, lean and more overweight people have different environments, it is completely plausible that the two will harbor two different bacteria but I do not think it is because of the bacteria that change the body type of the person. I think they are thinking about the situation the other way around.
ReplyDeleteAfter revisiting your comments and my recent post on intestinal flora, it is quite evident that our "floral homeostasis" will be contingent upon the environment within which we demand our "external" system to function under. Acid loads and even gluten may produce inflammation while other food items that I have written about recently, chocolate, curcumin, barley, and wine may have anti-inflammatory effects. Currently, I am struggling with figuring out the means of introducing friendly flora into my system. While I can use these same food items to reduce inflammation, monitor other inflammatory foods to eradicate them from my diet, probiotics are simply a placeholder for the good gut bacteria. With this in mind, it is a challenge to determine how long one should wait after eliminating inflammatory foods from their diets before initiating probiotic treatment and then when to introduce the healthy bacteria. Kim chi is not likely to be on my reintroduction list, nor yogurt (unfortunately), but a date with a New York style hot dog loaded with sauerkraut will do! Any ideas, especially from any of you with nutrition backgrounds will be helpful and insightful! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you would need to wait a certain amount of time but rather eat in balance. You don't have to completely stop eating "bad" foods because think about if you only have "good" bacteria in your gut for a long period of time that your body "forgets" the bad bacteria then a very bad strain of bad bacteria gets inoculated into your body. Your body wouldn't be able to fight against it as well over multiple years of course. So I say eat what you want! (In proportion to healthy and "good bacterial" promoting foods of course!
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