By Russ Britt
Will the next fad diet involve an overhaul of — your stomach bacteria?
Reuters reports that scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University have discovered gastric bypass surgery used to help obese patients shed pounds has the side effect of replacing fattening bacteria in the stomach with slimming microbes. Scientists made the discovery on lab mice and now are speculating that if the process can be repeated in humans, it could eliminate the need for surgery.
The finding was made after scientists performed gastric bypasses on lab mice, then transferred microbes from those rodents’ stomachs to other, obese mice that did not receive surgery. Those obese mice lost weight and fat as a result. To further test the notion, some mice were given faux surgery in which scientists made incisions but did not change any connections in the stomachs. Those animals didn’t lose any weight.
Another study showed from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles that determining whether a person has slimming bacteria or fattening bacteria may be as simple as taking a breath test, Reuters also reported.
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