Bacteria control could help reduce obesity and its complications

According to recent research, our general inability to stick to a diet in the long term could be because of the bacteria we have inside us demanding unhealthy foods.
The University College San Francisco, Arizona State University and the University of New Mexico have found that bacteria inside us, which are part of the natural ecosystem of our digestive systems, send out signals to the body that make us crave unhealthy foods.
Bacteria like to feed on sugars and fats, large amounts of which are found in foods we try to avoid when dieting, such as sweets, chocolate, or fast food.
These sneaky single cell organisms are thought to affect our nervous system, release toxins to make us feel bad, or release good chemicals to reward us for eating things they like.
However, it is a two way system. By starving the bacteria of certain foods, certain ones will reduce in number, combating the ‘mind control’ of the species.
The researchers managed to alter the concentrations of different species of bacteria in people, and believe that control of the populations of these bacteria could help to reduce obesity and related issues.
“Targeting the microbiome could open up possibilities for preventing a variety of disease from obesity and diabetes to cancers of the gastro-intestinal tract” said Dr. Athena Aktipis, senior author of the study, which was published in the journal BioEssays.