Do we chose what we eat or do the bacteria living in our gut decide?
Hello everyone!
I'm Reina and this is DNews.
The friendly bacteria that live within us may not only be affecting food cravings but
also our moods.
Research has shown that this may even lead to a causal relationship with obesity.
Researchers from UC San Francisco, Arizona State University and University of New Mexico
have concluded that microbes do in fact influence eating habits and food choices to favor consumption
of specific nutrients that the microbes themselves thrive best on.
In the past it was thought that microbes passively took in whatever nutrients we ingested.
Bacterial species have different nutrients they thrive off of; some favor sugars, others
can favor starches, fats, et cetera.
And because the human gut is directly linked to the immune system, nervous system, and
endocrine system, the community of microbes that live within you influence your eating
choices!
The gut microbiome does this by releasing signaling molecules, which allow the cells
to perceive and respond correctly to the microenvironment.
Then, those signals go on to influence our physiologic and behavioral responses.
The Director of Human and Social Evolution at UCSF, explains "Microbes have the capacity
to manipulate behavior and mood through altering the neural signals in the vagus nerve, changing
taste receptors, producing toxins to make us feel bad, and releasing chemical rewards
to make us feel good."
For example, in mice particular strands of bacteria can increase anxious behavior.
In a nutshell, the bacteria didn’t like what the mice were eating so they chemically
signaled a reaction that would cause the mice to feel anxiety.
The mice would then correlate the food to be causing the anxiety and cease to continue
eating it.[a]
On a larger scale, clinical trials discovered that drinking a probiotic containing Lactobacillus
casei (kay see ee), which can relieve gastrointestinal pathogenic bacterial disease, actually improved
low moods.
Dr. Carlo Maley, director of the UCSF Center for Evolution and Cancer explains
"Bacteria within the gut are manipulative.
There is a diversity of interests represented in the microbiome, some aligned with our own
dietary goals, and others not."
The speed with which the microbiome can change may be encouraging to those who seek to improve
health by altering microbial populations.
This usually happens through food and supplement choices, by ingesting specific bacterial species
in the form of probiotics, or by killing targeted species with antibiotics.
According to researchers, optimizing the balance among bacterial species in our gut may allow
us to lead less obese and healthier lives.
Researchers[b] proposed further studies to investigate the power microbes hold over us.
They say that "Targeting the microbiome could open up possibilities for preventing a variety
of disease from obesity and diabetes to cancers of the gastro-intestinal tract.
We are only beginning to scratch the surface of the importance of the microbiome for human
health.”
What do you think?
Would you get a gut microbe transplant in hopes of improving your health?
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