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Gut Health Canvas: Weight Loss

How does microbiome support weight loss?

Introducing our Gut Health Canvas

In this series, we dive into the links between the gut and various aspects of our mental and physical health.

Physical Health: Weight Loss

How does microbiome support weight loss?

  • Your gut bacteria can protect you against obesity: Certain intestinal microbes like Akkermansia muciniphila and Bifidobacterium activate immune cells that reduce the gut’s absorption of lipids.
  • 🐭 Bad bacteria also exist: A study by Kawano et al. (2022) found that a high-fat and high-sugar diet fuelled the growth of Faecalibaculum rodentium, which killed off immune-regulating bacteria.

Microbiome and metabolic regulation

  • Maintaining a balanced gut microbiome is crucial for metabolic regulation.
  • Keep it low: Lactobacillus plantarum metabolises dietary unsaturated fatty acids into saturated fats, which are associated with an increased risk of obesity and heart disease.
  • More is better: Lactobacillus salivarius and Lactobacillus gasseri produce 10-hydroxy-cis-12-octadecenoic acid via linoleic acid hydroxylation, which improves obesity, increases GLP-1 secretion (which helps to curb hunger), and improves glucose metabolism.

 

Small changes, big impact for obesity

  • The human gut microbiota mostly comprises two dominant bacterial phyla, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, that represent more than 90% of the total community. The Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio is thus an important influence in maintaining normal intestinal homeostasis.
  • Firmicutes, due to their negative influence on glucose and fat metabolism, are commonly referred to as bad gut microbes. Bacteroidetes metabolize carbohydrates, providing nutrition and vitamins to us and other bacteria.
  • 👨 Gut microbiota and obesity are linked: Obese individuals were found to have more Firmicutes and nearly 90% less Bacteroidetes than lean individuals.
  • 👨 In a controlled feeding study by Wu et al. (2011), gut microbial changes occurred within 24 hours of initiating a high-fat/low-fiber or a low-fat/high fiber diet — this shows that the slightest changes in our diet impact the gut!


👨 Research done in humans
🐭 Research done in mice

 

Sources:
Amamabebe et al. 2020
Kawano et al. 2022
Fujisaka et al. 2023
Hassan et al. 2022
Magne et al. 2020
Wu et al. 2011
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