So we’ve all seen Arnold Schwarzenegger’s favorite insecure narcissist (no not the cleaning-woman), Jamie-Lee Curtis hinting at the tectonic detonations that must be occurring in her GI-tract on a daily basis.
Well Thank God, a few crafty researchers at Vanderbilt have addressed a far more serious problem than scorched neighbor-hedges as the result of morning yoga downward-dog in Malibu.
The Sean Davies team has come up with a very-possible One-Pill-Cure to: … Obesity!
As you might imagine from the JLC reference, their agent is the oft-yoghurted microbe, the Probiotic.
Well in the Activia spirit, what they did was to identify this substance called NAPE, which the body normally produces after you eat and signals that you’re full, suppressing your appetite.
Then, they just scrambled up an older probiotic bug’s code so it now produces NAPE on its own, installed it in the guts of test subjects, and voila!
Weight-loss, and lower body-fat %;
-even 12 weeks after they started.
AND that’s six weeks After the good microbes were no longer actively-present in the mice GI-tracts.
Now of course, the study comes with the usual caveats: They have to refine it some more, use different, less grumpy bacteria, test on humans, and try to reduce dosage.
A Few Notes:
They fed the mice high-fat diets simply because that’s how you get a TON of calories into them, letting them over-eat and get fat.
It might not be that significant, as many people’s obesity problems, while due to excess calories sure, are Also tied to an excess of Fast Carbs.
-Hopefully their NAPE-producing bacteria work as well under more real-world conditions.
Team Sean might even have to scale-up the power & productivity of their bacteria, because one of the few things our bodies are great at is Massively-Overeating and then storing fat so we don’t die in a famine. -Although their bug would seem to strike right at the heart of that equation.
As you can see from many long-term weightloss results out there, very few people are willing to change their behavior long-term.
So as much as Vanderbilt, & the NIH who granted them, might want this to be a 1-Pill-Solution, many people might be forced to re-up every 6 weeks. (which should make Big Pharma absolutely Giddy with excitement)
Hit up the Links for more details on yet another fascinating wrinkle in the future of the human microbiome:
Photo Credits:
“Construction and engineering students visit the Folsom spillway job site”, by the US Army Corp of Engineers
Links:
• Source: Vanderbilt
• via: Gizmag
• More Coverage: Daily Mail
• Source Study: JCI-Incorporation of therapeutically modified bacteria into gut microbiota inhibits obesity
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