Obesity Epidemic: A Case Study

Obesity is a leading preventable cause of death worldwide and its prevalence is increasing at an alarming rate (Barness et al, 2007). For thousands of years obesity was rarely seen, it was not until the 20th century that it became common, some much so that in 1997, the World Health Organization (WHO) formally recognized obesity as a global epidemic (Caballero, 2007).

* Studies in mice, which also have large numbers of microbes living in their guts, have shown that there may be a link between storing energy as fat and microbial activity.

There are major effects in the United States and Europe to help identify the role of microbial communities in the human body. The colon requires a balance of microbial agents that assist with various functions of the body. An imbalance can lead to C.diff., irritable bowel disease (IBD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), neurological disorders, and obesity just to list a few. Many of these problems have grown to an epidemic proportion. Both the United States and Europe have started projects aimed at the microbial communities of the body and their roles in our health.

Unique microbiota could suggest a human’s current health or if there is any forthcoming chronic disease (Ley, 2006). Families with shared healthy microbes may be able to help relatives who suffer from gastrointestinal disease; but the extant to which the microbiome is shared across generations is not readily known and more research is needed. The core trends for current research revolve around control of obesity, treatment of gastrointestinal diseases such as Crohn’s, and hormonal manipulation in cases of depression. It is imperative to learn to eat for optimal health, to evolve along with the commensals (Turner et al., 2013) as human diets influence diversity of microbes present (Ley et al., 2008). This is a relatively new field with exciting prospects of positive outcomes for some of society’s more chronic

Recently it was discovered that H. pylori has another job besides regulating acid. It plays an important role in signaling our hunger. Our stomach produces two hormones that regulate food intake. Ghrelin (the hunger hormone) tells your brain you need food and Leptin tells your brain your stomach is full. Your ghrelin levels are high when you have not eaten for a while, which is why you are hungry when you wake up in the morning. After you eat breakfast, your ghrelin levels decrease. Studies have shown that H. pylori significantly regulates ghrelin levels and without it, these levels may be unregulated which can lead to increased appetite and excessive caloric intake. Studies have shown that those who have been treated by antibiotics to eliminate H. pylori, gained weight because their ghrelin levels stayed elevated causing them to feel hungry longer therefor increasing their caloric intake. This example illustrates that we may not really understand the consequences of the wide use of antibiotics. Obesity could very well be one of those consequences. We take antibiotics to target the bad bacteria however it affects the good bacteria too. Two

The study intended to look at the gut microbiome that is naturally present within the gut. The research team of the Louisiana State University designed an experiment with lab rats to predict how the manipulation of the gut microbiome with a high fat diet would affect their brain

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a drug as, “a substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body” (“Drug,” 2016). Most would consider this definition too broad since simply ingesting food causes physiological changes in the body. However, most do not consider the multifarious ways in which the food that we eat affects our epigenetic gene expression, or the bi-directional signaling between our gut and our brains. The food that we eat is metabolized in the gut by micro-organisms which collectively form our microbiota. The 100 trillion prokaryotic cells that make up our microbiota, constitute 90% of the cells in our bodies, and are derived from more than 40,000 bacterial strains (Forsythe & Kunze, 2012). Increasingly, research is showing the importance of host microbiota composition and the bidirectional signaling pathways between the brain and the gut: some of which are epigenetic. These studies elucidate the profound impacts that signaling pathways, such as short-chain fatty acid mediated effects, nucleomodulins, and other bacterial metabolites, can have on health, behavior and cognition (Sommer & Backhed, 2013). It is now clear that diet-mediated epigenetic effects are important mechanisms in the etiology of numerous diseases (Choi & Friso, 2010). Furthermore, artificial drugs that can act on these epigenetic pathways could

Zhang et.al. did a study with the aim of assessing the relative contributions of host genetics and diet in shaping the gut microbiota and modulating metabolic syndrome related phenotypes. They fed wild type mice C57BL/6J) and Apoa-1 knockout mice normal chow or a high fat diet (HFD) for 25 weeks. The knock out mice had impaired glucose tolerance and high body fat at baseline. They measured food intake and body weight evert 2 weeks and measured glucose tolerance and gut microbiota composition and population at baseline and at the end of the intervention at 25 weeks. According to their findings the wild type mice that were fed a high fat diet gained the most weight followed by the gene Apoa knockout mice. The same results were also seen for glucose tolerance test with the wild type mice on a high fat diet showing a larger spike in blood glucose. Significant differences in microbial composition was seen between animals on different diets rather than animals with genetic differences. HFD eliminated bifidobacteria and increased the abundance of endotoxin producing desulfovibrionaceae. Diet differences accounted for

The good gut microbes are a powerful line of defense against pathogens and germs and also prevent the overgrowth of harmful microbes such as bacteria, yeasts and parasites, making healthy bacteria vital for a strong immune system.

The use of the first form of microbe-based therapeutics, probiotics, is beneficial for preventing disease. These live microorganisms are known to strengthen the equilibrium of the gut flora by the development of healthy gut

The research in this article focuses on gut bacteria found in people from different cultures and how this can negatively impact us. At the end of the article, Zimmer explains that Americans, residing in a western society, have microbes in the gut that attack the body. He explains that this is because of the carbohydrates attacking the body when not given enough dietary fiber. This problem is not found in foraging cultures because of their seasonally changing food source which positively impacts their body. This is an important discovery of gut bacteria in western culture because now researchers can underscore the importance of dietary fiber in modern industrialized societies with enough evidence to back up their claims. This can also provide insight on how diets in western societies can adapt and change to improve the health and well-being of its people.

Too much sugar and body fat can place you at a higher risk for AD. Blood vessels can become restricted due to stroke or from health conditions, such as obesity and diabetes. Metabolomics study by Dumas et al suggested that intestinal microbiota may similarly play an active role in the development of complex metabolic abnormalities, such as susceptibility to insulin resistance and fatty liver disease [75]. Subsequent examination of germ-free versus conventional mice on high-fat diet revealed that both insulin sensitivity and cholesterol metabolism are metabolic targets influenced by the intestinal microbiota [76]. Complementary clinical studies further demonstrated that elevated circulating levels of the gut flora metabolite within subjects

Gut microbiota represents a complex community in human intestines that aids in sustaining a dynamic metabolic ecological equilibrium, thus any changes in those beneficial bacteria (which may be sparked by the infection, illness, drugs and/or stress) have the propensity to substantially affect the health of individuals. It has been shown that these microorganisms are capable of producing and conveying various neuroactive substances such as gamma-aminobutyric acid and serotonin. The gut-brain axis is a quite novel term used to describe the communication between the central and the enteric nervous system, linking emotional and cognitive centres of the brain with peripheral intestinal functions. Recent advances in research have described the importance of gut microbiota in influencing these interactions, and it has been shown that microorganisms can affect the development and function of the central nervous system via the aforementioned gut-brain axis.

There is no single cause of all overweight and obesity because there are so many demographics that come into play. There is no single approach that can help prevent or treat overweight and obesity. Treatment may include a mix of behavioral treatment, diet, exercise, and sometimes weight-loss drugs; and in some cases of extreme obesity, weight-loss surgery may be an option. A medical advisor should always be notified when decisions are being made regarding different approaches to losing weight. Over the last decade, scientific interest in our gut bacteria, our feces, which are roughly 40% microbe has expanded, and there’s evidence the bacteria populations that exist within us play an important role in both our physical and psychological well–being (Fortune). Research is very recent but there was a case documented of a woman who received a fecal transplant from her obese daughter to treat a colon infection caused by the bacteria C. difficile, a gut infection, and the infection went away, but the woman gained 34 pounds in a matter of months (Fortune). Researchers are just beginning to untangle the specific ways lean guts differ from obese ones, but there’s indication certain strains play a pivotal role.

Some believe however, that consuming foods and other supplements when they already have well-function native bacteria isn’t as beneficial as we would like to believe. Many clinical trials have been done to examine the benefits of probiotics in ill individuals, but when the general healthy public is consuming these supplements the magnitude of the benefit is a little hazier. A team of scientists at University of Copenhagen reviewed seven randomized, placebo-controlled studies that tested healthy individual’s gut microbiome before and after being administered probiotic supplements. After review, it was concluded that only 34 of the healthy volunteers experienced any chance within their microbiome. This result was not confidant enough to claim that the healthy volunteers benefited from the probiotics (Pedersen, 2016). For most healthy people probiotics do not cause any adverse side effects, but there is a sense of uncertainty in how a probiotic will react with someone’s current microbiome because we are all different. Consultation of a health care provider is key regardless if the individual is healthy or ill; this is because since there is still so much uncertainty taking a supplement like these.