The Fat Microbiologist
After a trip to Peru, microbiologist Rob Knight came home with more than pictures. Antibiotics not only cured his intestinal woes, they changed the composition of his gut bacteria. He subsequently lost 60 lbs on the same diet that had been unsuccessful prior to his Peruvian adventure.
Skeptical? In December 2006, a research group at the the University of Washington in St Louis, MO conducted a study which they cultured gut bacteria from obese and non-obese subjects. Scientists have known for some time that obesity is associated with a distinctive “gut flora”. Researchers in St. Louis injected sterile mice with different gut bacteria. The mice who were injected with bacteria associated with obesity got fat. Newsweek covered the story in December 2007.
Stephan Guyenet, PhD, a neurobiologist, believes that the increase in obesity in Western society coincides with increasing use of antibiotics. Contrary to Rob Knight’s experience, antibiotics are fed to chicken and cattle to fatten them up. Nobody has considered the possible effects on human populations?
