- Preventing Obesity by Changing Your Gut: You Are What You Eat

A new study published in Nature, a British-based science journal, has confirmed the notion that the gut is responsible, at least in part, for obesity, diabetes, and other diseases. The study compared the effects of acetate and other short-chain fatty acids in mice. The researchers found that rodents with high levels of acetate were more likely to consume a high-fat diet.

To confirm further, researchers injected a group of rodents with acetate and noted that doing so stimulated insulin secretion in the pancreas among the mice, which leads to higher levels of fat as it becomes harder for the mice to release the fat via energy production. Injecting acetate into the brains of the mice caused an increase in insulin production and stimulated two hormones that promote food consumption: gastrin and ghrelin.

Researchers also discovered a connection between appetite and changed gut microbes by transferring fecal matter from obese mice to healthy mice, which led to changes in acetate and insulin levels among the healthy mice. A similar case was published last year in the journal Open Forum Diseases about a 32-year old woman who was treated for C. difficile, which is an inflammation of the colon. The woman received fecal matter from a healthy person, whose microbes then pushed out the harmful microbes the woman carried.

Although the woman recovered from the operation and it was considered a success, she did put on 36 pounds afterward and her BMI rose 7 points just a year after. The fecal transplant was probably the cause for the weight gain. Still, such operations have proven hugely successful in treating C. difficile infections with a success rate of over 90%.

As researchers and physicians see continued success with operations like these, there is strong evidence to support the idea that fecal matter transplant, a process that effectively alters the gut makeup of the individual, can help treat infections and inflammations.