Cleaning Gut Bugs Control Obesity

The gut microbiome is considered vital for good health. However, a study in mice reflects that when it relates to insulin sensitivity and obesity, the story may be different. Researchers found out those animals without intestinal microbiota showed better glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity with fewer white fats and lesser body mass.

Mirko Trajkovski of University of Geneva commented in a statement that treating obesity with high doses of antibiotics was impractical largely due to the risk of antibiotic resistance and wanted to search alternative means of restraining or modifying the microbiota and to classify the exact bacterial genes liable for the occurrence. He would then target only those without having to reduce the entire microbiota.

Trajkovski and his team put mice on a high fat diet after removing their microbiome with antibiotics or raising them in a germ-free situation. Normal mice turned obese, but the microbe-free mice remained lean and produced extra beige fat, the energy-burning form of adipose tissue.

The germ-free mice also had superior levels of certain cytokines. Authors commented in the study that restraining of this signaling harms antibiotic-induced subcutaneous-fat browning and also suppresses the glucose phenotype of the microbiota-depleted mice.

The press release said that researchers would look for the particular taxa involved in these effects using exact antibiotics or bacteriophages.